Coach Patti's Blog

The new year is just around the corner – literally! Last time, I mentioned that I've been planning and setting goals, and my hope that you've been doing the same. New Year’s resolutions (or goals) are a great way to plan for the coming year. Some of us, however, are suffused with the dread of potential failure. I'd like to offer some tips to help your resolutions succeed, so that you can accomplish your goals.

There are many benefits to setting goals at this time of year. You're feeling the glow of the holiday season, and your enthusiasm is undoubtedly high. You’re better motivated to steadily move towards achieving the results you really want. This will boost your self-esteem, your confidence, and your belief in your ability to make things happen. I do want to offer a word of caution: Don’t forget to balance your enthusiasm with living in the moment. Looking too far into the future inhibit you from enjoying your life right now!

Setting goals can help to eliminate the stress of feeling out of control, especially in a still-recovering real estate world. Many of us have a tendency to set too many resolutions, or to set the bar too high. The result? We become disillusioned within the first couple of months. Here's my thought: Look at your resolutions more as realistic goals that will lead to your greater happiness. Who wants to feel bitter and unhappy because it seems like we’ve “failed?” Make your goals specific, and break down larger goals into more detailed "bite-sized" pieces.

Once you’ve established a goal, formulate a plan to explain what you’re going to do next and how you’re going to achieve this goal. Balance your goals as you do your entire life; some goals should be career and financially focused, with others directed to your family and home focused. Make sure that you write your goals down -- research suggests this is the best way to ensure your success. Place them in a prominent place, and review them regularly.

Enjoy the process of outlining your goals and resolutions, then reap the benefits of sticking to them! Believe that you will achieve your goals. Make the most of this time leading up to the new year. It's time to diversify your thinking if you're going to stay in the game. Leave your comments below and tell me…Have you established (and written down) your goals for 2012?

Want to find out more about The Real Estate Game® being offered on January 9?  Let me know - I'll send you a link! Talk to you soon.

Coach Patti

About Coach Patti Kouri:

Coach Patti, the owner of Accelerated Performance Coaching Inc., and The Real Estate Game®, strives to maintain an atmosphere of community, connection, and harmony by becoming your resource base to enhance and enrich your personal and business life. Coach Patti was voted one of the ‘Top 50 Most Influential Women In Real Estate Leadership in 2008’ by the 2008 edition of the Swanepoel Trends Report. www.CoachPatti.com and www.TheRealEstateGame.com.

Hello, and welcome back! I’ve taken some well-deserved time off to take in the holidays and fully enjoy my family. Hopefully, you've been able to do the same. Right now, I’m goal setting and planning for next year...and I really hope that you're doing the same thing. If you're one of those folks who believes that taking some down time will cause your business to decrease, I'd like for you to consider this: Taking time off creates room for new business. If you'll step back and take a little time off, you'll find that when you come back, you've broken out of the rut you may be in.

Part of that “rut” may also be convincing yourself that you have to learn to manage your time better. Newsflash: You can't manage time. You can manage yourself, and that's it. Focus on figuring out how you can do less and accomplish more. Making a conscious choice to enjoy a big cup of hot chocolate and watch Holiday Inn doesn't mean your work will suffer; it means you've made a choice that doesn't involve feeling guilty! When you DO make a conscious choice to work, you'll be able to think clearly about that holiday greeting you want to send to your SOI.

Let's face it. Regardless of how delightful, the holidays are stressful. Without going into all of the science, suffice it to say that if you're working at being jolly AND working at running a successful business...your brain and your body are stressed to the max.

Without adding stress, I'd love to see you incorporate some self-care into the things that you're taking care of this holiday season. Exercise will get the endorphins flowing, which means you'll feel more positive and more relaxed. Getting plenty of rest is paramount – if you're sleep-deprived, you're going to feel exhausted. More importantly, you're going to forget things, and it's going to be harder for you to learn new things. You won't be able to think clearly, and that gets in the way of planning and goal-setting.

If you've never meditated, give it a try during the holiday season. It's a wonderful way to quickly and easily calm and center yourself so that you can think clearly. And finally, although it may sound counter-intuitive, don't isolate yourself if you feel overwhelmed. Staying in regular contact with family and friends – your support network – will help keep your mood balanced.

The holidays ARE stressful, but they're also a wonderful time of the year. It's time to diversify your thinking if you're going to stay in the game. Leave your comments below and tell me…How do you handle the extra stresses of the winter holiday season?

Talk to you soon.

Coach Patti

About Coach Patti Kouri:

Coach Patti, the owner of Accelerated Performance Coaching Inc., and The Real Estate Game®, strives to maintain an atmosphere of community, connection, and harmony by becoming your resource base to enhance and enrich your personal and business life. Coach Patti was voted one of the ‘Top 50 Most Influential Women In Real Estate Leadership in 2008’ by the 2008 edition of the Swanepoel Trends Report. www.CoachPatti.com and www.TheRealEstateGame.com.

 When you meet with a seller or a buyer, you've got to be aware of the fact that you're not the only folks participating in the conversation. Today, everyone you meet has a seemingly endless array of socially networked contemporary colleagues and acquaintances whose opinions and knowledge base are valued and trusted.

That client, whether they want to hear it or not, IS hearing the blended whispers of a throng of well-intended advisers comprising their social network. And for you to successfully communicate with them, it helps immensely to be aware – not of what's being said, of course – of the fact that the chorus is there, cranking themselves up with every word that comes out of your mouth.

Kris Berg with Inman News shared one of her experiences that helps to illuminate this point."My friend at work said that agents will give me some of their commission if I let them help me buy a house," a client said to her, completely matter-of-factly. "Will you? And how much?"

Berg had  buyer client who had “tossed aside a dozen or more suitable, fairly priced properties.” all because “some dude in his bowling league snagged a stunning five-bedroom home with a view of the earth's curvature for $12.”

We've all had similar experiences; the take-away here is that many client's home buying goals have become mostly about things like bragging rights and getting one up on their neighbors.

It's a huge challenge in our business today. We're scrutinized by our clients' self-taught inner circles, and every move we make is questioned. Our responses to even the simplest of questions are analyzed.

You can find the positive side of this “tag team” approach to real estate. It requires us to be at the top of the information heap at all times, because our clients (and their supporting cast) come armed with a LOT of information. The problem is that the information is often completely incorrect.

Before the current housing and economic fiasco, things were easier. We interviewed to get the work, and we proved our worth by providing a successful closing. As Berg says, “Everything in between involved simply doing the job for which we were entrusted -- putting our experience and training to work.”

We have to use our GPS to stay on the right road in this new world. Our clients aren't going to stop turning to their (more trusted) inner circle for advice, counsel and, ultimately, validation. What their “friends and family network” says about EVERYTHING will trump our best listing presentation every time. We're being assessed on a scale of how many of our clients' inner circle “Like” us. That is why the social reach of our brands has never been more important.

The ways in which you branded yourself and your business when you started are unlikely to be working perfectly today. It's time to diversify your thinking if you're going to stay in the game. Leave your comments below and tell me…How are you working with your clients' social networks?

Talk to you soon.

About Coach Patti Kouri:

Coach Patti, the owner of Accelerated Performance Coaching Inc., and The Real Estate Game®, strives to maintain an atmosphere of community, connection, and harmony by becoming your resource base to enhance and enrich your personal and business life. Coach Patti was voted one of the ‘Top 50 Most Influential Women In Real Estate Leadership in 2008’ by the 2008 edition of the Swanepoel Trends Report. www.CoachPatti.com and www.TheRealEstateGame.com.

Remember that old adage, “Those who can't do, teach”? It's really a demeaning statement about what the speaker thinks of teachers; it's diminishing, denigrating, and generally a dismissal of folks who choose to pursue a truly noble profession.

Have you noticed lately how many people who are out of work and announcing (with little or no enthusiasm) that they'll “Just get a real estate license.” That pronouncement seems to reflect the idea that, as Kris Berg over at Inman noted, the true salvation for those who are unemployed is to get a real estate license. But let's face it – most of them have absolutely no idea of what they're considering getting into.

Please note that I say this in very general terms – not just as a reflection of the topsy-turvy (mostly “turvy,” lately) real estate market. Right now, as the only flood coming our way seems to be one composed of less-than-stellar moneymakers (aka distressed properties), you're probably doing one of two things. You might be scratching your head and saying, “Why the heck would anyone want to get into this field right now?!” - a thoroughly understandable response, especially if you're not working to your own maximum capacity in this crisis.

Or, you might be reading this and turning an interesting shade of purple as you sputter, “Hey! There are already too many Realtors in my neck of the woods! I'm busting my butt and I don't need more competition!” An equally comprehensible response, since you're obviously one of those who IS working to your absolute limits (that doesn't mean that you're working smarter; it just means that you're working harder).

Either way, only YOU know why you signed up for this job that may often feel like torture. Your reasons may have been well-founded, and they may have been really flimsy – but regardless of the logic (or lack thereof), it's the field you chose for yourself. More importantly, you know why you choose to stay in real estate, even when the media seems to come up with newer and more interesting terms to describe the market (this week, The Economist called it “moribund”).

You've got to look inside and remember your reasons for being a Realtor, and you've got to diversify your thinking if you're going to stay in the game. I want you to really think about why you got into real estate. You had terrific inner strength and resiliency then. Those are the qualities that set you apart – that imbue you with the ability to not just weather the current challenging market. Leave your comments below and tell me…What are you doing to stay fresh and motivated?

Talk to you soon.

Coach Patti

About Coach Patti Kouri:

Coach Patti, the owner of Accelerated Performance Coaching Inc., and The Real Estate Game®, strives to maintain an atmosphere of community, connection, and harmony by becoming your resource base to enhance and enrich your personal and business life. Coach Patti was voted one of the ‘Top 50 Most Influential Women In Real Estate Leadership in 2008’ by the 2008 edition of the Swanepoel Trends Report. www.CoachPatti.com and www.TheRealEstateGame.com

 Just when you've positioned yourself to switch into cruise control, when you've acknowledged and embraced all of the current vagaries of the real estate market, another challenge pops up out of left field. To help you succeed, I can say nothing other than, “Learn to deal with it.” My own best far-reaching strategy is to give you a heads-up, and offer alternatives for dealing with the latest, greatest potential obstacles. The old adage holds true: Forewarned is forearmed.

So here's what's happening – and needs to be on your radar – right now. Are you experiencing an upsurge in clients having mortgage loan rejections? There are lenders who are, according to Inman News, rejecting 50% (or more) of their loan applicants – after the applicants have paid for an appraisal, and in some cases after they have paid a nonrefundable upfront fee to the lender. The overall rate of rejection is far higher than it was before the financial crisis.

The rise in late-stage rejections has been due in part to the more restrictive underwriting climate that arose after the initial financial crisis. This includes not only more restrictive lending terms but also tougher enforcement of the rules (including more extensive checks of closed loans for compliance).

Loans that fail compliance checks may have to be repurchased by the originators, which is very costly. Underwriters entrusted with responsibility for assuring that loans are not returned from buyers on grounds that they did not meet the requirements almost invariably err on the side of rejection.

It's time to diversify your thinking if you're going to stay in the game. Are you experiencing an increased in client mortgage loans being rejected? Leave your comments below and tell me…What are your thoughts about late-stage mortgage loan rejections?

Talk to you soon.

Coach Patti

About Coach Patti Kouri:

Coach Patti, the owner of Accelerated Performance Coaching Inc., and The Real Estate Game®, strives to maintain an atmosphere of community, connection, and harmony by becoming your resource base to enhance and enrich your personal and business life. Coach Patti was voted one of the ‘Top 50 Most Influential Women In Real Estate Leadership in 2008’ by the 2008 edition of the Swanepoel Trends Report. www.CoachPatti.com and www.TheRealEstateGame.com.

Image: hans.gerwitz

You've probably had your fill of new and creative challenges in the housing industry. Well, prepare for the next one. The paperwork correction glitches in the foreclosure process nationwide are being rapidly rectified, and states are allowing banks to resume repossessions. That's created a glut of discounted properties that are getting ready to flood the marketplace.

This means that the prices of non-distressed properties are going to suffer a negative impact. Your question may be, “Why?,” and that's fine. Your next question should be, “What can I do to prepare?” Let's look at first things first. There are two reasons for the adverse effect on the prices of non-distressed properties.

You know that there are only a finite number of home buyers in any market. Some of these buyers will buy those new-to-market distressed properties, because they're terrifically affordable. That's the first reason for the negative effect. It goes hand-in-glove with the second reason.

As those distressed properties are sold, they'll become the comparable sales used by appraisers in their valuations. These comparables will be used for the establishment of value on all homes in the market (both distressed and non-distressed) sold in the future. Since these properties are sold at a discount, they will have a negative impact on other valuations.

You need to come to grips with the fact that the housing market simply will not recover until we clear this shadow inventory. Are distressed properties your first choice for transactions? Of course not – we'd all prefer to be dealing only with luxury properties. But the speed at which these properties come to market – and are sold – will determine the speed at which the housing market recovers.

You've got to change your way of thinking. Distressed properties are likely to comprise the lion's share of your real estate bread and butter in the coming months. But take heart – the latest S&PShadow Inventory Report shows that the months of shadow inventory already is decreasing. The report explains that the number of families falling 90 days behind on their mortgages has decreased dramatically. The end to the housing crisis is within sight.

It's time to diversify your thinking if you're going to stay in the game. Leave your comments below and tell me…What do you think about this new challenge?

Talk to you soon.

Coach Patti

About Coach Patti Kouri:

Coach Patti, the owner of Accelerated Performance Coaching Inc., and The Real Estate Game®, strives to maintain an atmosphere of community, connection, and harmony by becoming your resource base to enhance and enrich your personal and business life. Coach Patti was voted one of the ‘Top 50 Most Influential Women In Real Estate Leadership in 2008’ by the 2008 edition of the Swanepoel Trends Report. www.CoachPatti.com and www.TheRealEstateGame.com.

 Recently, Kris Berg at Inman News wrote a terrific piece about the fact that, as much as we'd like to believe their contents, fortune cookies really do generally tell us exactly what we want to hear. So my question for you is this: Are you (at least subconsciously) basing your real estate career planning and decisions on the kind of wishful thinking found in fortune cookies?

If you are, it's time to think again. As Berg notes, “These assurances [found in fortune cookies] tend to buoy the old spirits, but they're not real.” Fortune cookies are inevitably upbeat. When was the last time you opened one and read, “Your CRM tools will soon fail you”? Whoever makes up those little one-liners knows that we want to be happy; we don't particularly want to be served the truth, even in a cute little edible package.

Berg compares the fortune cookie promissory note of “something for nothing” to our real estate licenses. A lot of folks operate under the truly delusional notion that unlike some other fields of endeavor, a career in real estate isn't really “work.” And yes, you might get lucky; my hope is that you'll realize that with your present ways of thinking, what you're experiencing IS likely little more than luck. It does happen to most of us, at some point or another.

But we all know that luck is one fickle lady. The only way you're going to move out of that mindset is to realize that you have to consistently make hard choices. One of those choices is how you're going to spend your time. How many agents and brokers do you know who are whining about business in their market being dead...while they're out playing the back nine? Conversely, how many of them are stymied when their “lucky” peers are working every single day...and making money?

You need to ask yourself some hard questions, and “get good” with the answers, so that you can move towards a success-based reality. Have you ever turned down a listing because the property was too far away? When was the last time you ignored a call because you were on vacation? It's too easy to blame less-than-optimal clients or a lousy market for a serious downturn in personal income.

Real estate is cyclical, and we're still in a really bad cycle right now. Nobody's offering a lot of joy-filled “Business will be fantastic and you'll be wealthy!” fortune cookies, and if they are, you need to ignore them. Now is the time to make the tough choices. As Berg so poignantly notes, “A real estate career isn't something that happens to you. Success is not a promise delivered with your license, nor is guaranteed wealth your just desserts.”

This is the time to diversify your thinking. YOU create your career “fortune.” What kinds of changes are you making to ensure your success? Leave your comments below, and share what YOU think!

Talk to you soon.

Coach Patti

About Coach Patti Kouri:

Coach Patti, the owner of Accelerated Performance Coaching Inc., and The Real Estate Game®, strives to maintain an atmosphere of community, connection, and harmony by becoming your resource base to enhance and enrich your personal and business life. Coach Patti was voted one of the ‘Top 50 Most Influential Women In Real Estate Leadership in 2008’ by the 2008 edition of the Swanepoel Trends Report. www.CoachPatti.com and www.TheRealEstateGame.com.

 It's a given – dealing with rental properties can provide income and future clients for savvy, open-minded agents. Inman News ran an interesting article recently, highlighting just this point. Remember, it's all a matter of how you think – we're in a make-it-or-break-it economy, and if you're smart, you're scrambling to not only use but create best practices to put yourself at the head of the pack.

Rentals have BIG potential as a new money-maker for real estate professionals. By 2015, the nation's home ownership is projected to drop from about 66% today, to 64% - the same rate as in 1968, said David Vivero, CEO of RentJuice, which provides online rental relationship management software to real estate professionals.

Vivero noted that while that drop may seem small, it represents more than 10 million people who will go from being home owners to being home renters. For real estate professionals, that means by 2015 there will be 4.3 million more rental units and 1.8 million fewer owned homes; 463,000 homes sales will be lost, worth $2.4 billion in commissions; and 150 million leases will be signed, worth $6.8 billion in commissions.

"If you offer only sales, (a total of) $11 billion in commissions (will be) out of your reach," Vivero said.

 So that's the “not very happy” news. Real estate agents and brokers would do well to remember that renting is often a stepping stone to home ownership. Agents can use a rental practice to provide exposure to renters, and to landlords who may decide to buy more properties in the future.

"Renters may turn into homeowners; prove yourself early," Vivero said. "No one's born 35. Between 22 and 35, they're renting."

You're right if you complain that commissions from leasing rental properties are smaller than those from sold homes. But, as Vivero said, they do provide "a steady income stream" that "[can] help keep frustrated agents afloat." If you're thinking of handling rentals, your best first step is to "simply just put content out there and hang a shingle as a rental service," he said.

Keep in mind the fact that the multiple listing service cannot be your only strategy when marketing to "Generation Rent," Vivero said. The marketing is different. Given demographics that skew toward younger singles, school statistics and mortgage calculators are likely to be less effective than a focus on lifestyle factors such as commute times and nearby amenities, Vivero said.

It's time to diversify your thinking if you're going to stay in the game. Leave your comments below and tell me…What do you think about handling rental properties?

Talk to you soon.

Coach Patti

About Coach Patti Kouri:

Coach Patti, the owner of Accelerated Performance Coaching Inc., and The Real Estate Game®, strives to maintain an atmosphere of community, connection, and harmony by becoming your resource base to enhance and enrich your personal and business life. Coach Patti was voted one of the ‘Top 50 Most Influential Women In Real Estate Leadership in 2008’ by the 2008 edition of the Swanepoel Trends Report. www.CoachPatti.com and www.TheRealEstateGame.com.

For weeks, the question on nearly everyone's mind has been, “Will the U.S. Government default on its loans?” The situation created a lot of worry and a lot of fear in a lot of peoples' minds. A primary concern in our field was the impact on the already fragile real estate market. As foreclosures continue, a lot of us were left wondering whether a debt decision delay would worsen the market.

Well, the House passed a $2.4 trillion debt-ceiling increase Monday night, by a vote of 269-161. That final tally highlighted deep dissatisfaction among the rank-and-file members of both parties. And there's still plenty of uncertainty out there regarding the precarious state of the real estate market.

Don't fool yourself, or let yourself be lulled into old ways of thinking. Despite the fact that a decision was reached, there are still perilous times ahead. Do you see the parallel between the U.S. debt crisis and the real estate market? You should. The fight stemmed from a very gut-level response, with Americans telling the government that they didn't want to see more money being spent. The average person said, “Hey, we have to live within our means, now you learn to do the same.” That's why there was a fight in the first place, and that's why fewer and fewer people are able to purchase (or stay in) homes.

Look at it this way. Mortgage interest rates are, slowly but surely, inching their way up. And lending is, without question, going to tighten up nationwide. The greatest impact is most likely to be seen by folks who want to purchase properties priced between $100,000 and $150,000. Why? Because those people are the most heavily reliant on stable mortgage rates in determining the practical affordability of purchasing a home.

Of course, if your buyers have cash in hand, it is time to urge investment in real estate. Sure, things will stabilize eventually; they always do. In the meantime, increased inflation means increased rents. So the reality stands: real estate is a great investment, even now.

You've got to diversify your thinking, and better sooner than later. What impact do YOU think the debt ceiling crisis will have on the real estate market? Leave me your comments below.

Talk to you soon.

Coach Patti

About Coach Patti Kouri:

Coach Patti, the owner of Accelerated Performance Coaching Inc., and The Real Estate Game®, strives to maintain an atmosphere of community, connection, and harmony by becoming your resource base to enhance and enrich your personal and business life. Coach Patti was voted one of the ‘Top 50 Most Influential Women In Real Estate Leadership in 2008’ by the 2008 edition of the Swanepoel Trends Report. www.CoachPatti.com and www.TheRealEstateGame.com.

Recently, Keeping Current Matters posted an extremely interesting blog by Ken Johnson, PhD, who is at Florida International University, and Editor of the Journal of Housing Research. I found it particularly enlightening, because it addressed the issue of whether there are negative implications to changing the listing price of a property.

 It's a question that absolutely, especially now, looms large in the minds of Brokers/Agents, as well as property sellers. The question has been investigated – scientifically – by John R. Knight. And although the research was conducted in 2002, it's still, or perhaps even MORE, pertinent in these hectic times. Knight's research looked at two variables: The types of property that are most likely to experience a price change, and the impact of changing a property’s listing price.

 Knight found that, on average, “properties which experience a listing price change take longer to sell and suffer a price discount greater than similar properties.” Greater price changes experience even longer marketing times and greater price discounts.

 So what does this mean for you? The bottom line is this: Get the price right from the outset. It's simple. As a Broker or Agent, you can't express strongly enough to seller that if they want to over list, they're going to take longer to sell and they're going to sell for less. And if YOU make the mistake of taking a listing and figuring you'll “get the price right later,” you're not doing yourself or your sellers any favors.

 Get it right from the beginning. And continue to work and think about things that way – permanently. It's all part of acknowledging that the marketplace has changed, and is likely to change even more in the coming months and years. Remember, any alteration to price will ultimately lead to longer marketing times and lower prices. Change the way you think, and the way you relate to your clients, and you'll find yourself soaring.

 Leave me a comment below and tell me…What do you think?

 Talk to you soon.

 Coach Patti

 About Coach Patti Kouri:

 Coach Patti, the owner of Accelerated Performance Coaching Inc., and The Real Estate Game®, strives to maintain an atmosphere of community, connection, and harmony by becoming your resource base to enhance and enrich your personal and business life. Coach Patti was voted one of the ‘Top 50 Most Influential Women In Real Estate Leadership in 2008’ by the 2008 edition of the Swanepoel Trends Report. www.CoachPatti.com and www.TheRealEstateGame.com.