First American Title The Woodlands

If you have not created your 2010 business plan, then what direction are you heading?  All successful professionals start out with a plan in place and a direction where they are going.  I have created a simply, straight to the point Realtor business plan that is easy to use.  Please contact me if the below information applies to you.

• If you know in your mind where you’re going and haven’t put it in writing. 
• If you're lost and have no direction of your business.
• If  you’re not sure where to start.
• If you’re not sure what is working in your business or where your business is coming from.
• If you have no accountability or tracking system in place
  

January started out slower than what we were hoping for in The Woodlands however it’s finishing the way we are wanting.  The first two weeks of this month was creeping along and I know it’s not because I wasn't marketing and helping my customers. Everyone I was talking too told me they were working hard but they haven’t put anyone under contact yet.  Well, it’s caught up with us!  I just compared last years resale’s to this year and we are blowing it out of the water.  I want to tell all my customers to stay positive, keep working your leads/referrals and it will payoff!!!

One of the most misunderstood resources for Seniors are Geriatric Care Managers. That’s because they all do things just a little differently! If you know a Senior who needs someone to intercede and advocate for them, let me help you find a Geriatric Care Manager whose business model fits their needs. Among many things, a GCM will provide an objective evaluation of a Senior's living situation.  In turn, they can determine whether a Senior can safely "Age in Place" or whether moving to a more supervised living environment is in the Senior's best interest.  Go to www.shirleyweber.com to contact me for resources and referrals.

Moving a Senior from their home is a highly emotional decision for everyone - including the family members. The adult children are many times orchestrating the sale of their childhood home. The Senior is reluctant to sell their home that is full of history and fond memories of family times. For their Realtor, this situation requires finesse, patience and experience working with Seniors and their families. Here are some things to think about if you are facing this situation:

First, make sure all legal matters are in order. Seek the expert advice from an Elder Law attorney.

Once on the market, staging and showing the home will be extremely difficult if the Senior is still living in the home. Most Seniors (rightfully,so) are reluctant to have strangers in their home. It’s also hard for them to understand why anyone would not want to look at the multitudes of family pictures on all the walls!

Be educated on what Senior living options are available and exactly what you can expect for the cost. Consult a Senior Care professional for resources and advice.

For more information on assisting your friends or family with these unique challenges, please click on www.shirleyweber.com.

Happy New Year!

By Brian Tracy

A satisfied customer will share “delight” or “amazement” with nine of his friends and relatives and associates, who will in turn pass the good news on to five others. In his book Word-of-Mouth Marketing, Jerry Wilson claims that the number of customers who will tell a positive story of their experience with you, your company or your product is one-tenth of the number who will share a negative story. In other words, while excellent customer service is essential in reducing or even eliminating negative word of mouth, you cannot rely on positive word of mouth to produce a stream of referrals.

By Brian Tracy

One of the most powerful determinants of the future success of your business is the little understood phenomenon of word-of-mouth communication. Fully 90 percent of dissatisfied customers will not do business again with the company that fails to meet their expectations. The same study also concluded that, on average, each dissatisfied customer will share his dissatisfaction with at least nine other people. What this means is that the dissatisfaction of just one disgruntled customer ends up poisoning the minds of forty five other people.

We often get asked by people across The Woodlands, Spring, Magnolia and other areas this time of year: should we put our house on the market now or wait until the spring? Here's our answer now that we're telling people and posting on other sites where we maintain a presence:

Depends on where you are! In general, many people will believe that "it's not a good time to sell in the winter months" and will take their homes off the market until the spring, which will only reduce the amount of competition on the market for sellers who remain on the market.

Also, people need to move throughout the year. Jobs always require moving. The 4Q and preparations for 1Q in the new year typically require many relo clients to find homes to close by the end of the year. December is usually an active month for resales -- not a slow month -- for the Houston area and particularly the north Houston area. If your or your client's house isn't on the market, you won't sell it! A seller can't sell it if they don't list it; and they can't sell it if they don't show it.

One important caveat is that buyers in general, and this is true in the major suburban Texas markets and most metro markets in the U.S. -- buyers don't want "projects." Investors want projects, but investors also want to pay pennies on the dollars. So if you have a quality property, and particularly a property with a pool or other commonly desired amenity, then a seller may fare better in "off season" months (or any time of year frankly). Quality properties will typically spend less time on the market and will hold value better than properties that have not been as well maintained or are not as well updated as other properties any time of year.

It takes experience and expertise in the local market to advise sellers accurately about a) how a property may perform in comparison to other properties in the local and immediately surrounding market, and b) what the particular dynamics of the property's market are right now and are expected to be through the coming months.

But our general advice is: if sellers want to move, they shouldn't delay, they should compete aggressively and get it on the market! It's not a bad time to sell. Good luck!

Nick Will is Managing Broker of Lelda Will Properties, the private practice of brokers Lelda Will and Nick Will, and of Will & Allen REALTORS(r), the soon-to-be-launched (January 2010) brand under which their agents will practice.

irst-time home buyers purchasing any kind of home—new or resale—areeligible for the tax credit. To qualify for the tax credit, a homepurchase must occur on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before April30, 2010. For the purposes of the tax credit, the purchase date is thedate when closing occurs and the title to the property transfers to thehome owner. A limited exception exists for certain contract for deedpurchases and installment sale purchases. See the IRS website for more detail.

However, the law also allows home sales occurring by June 30, 2010 toqualify, provided they are due to a binding sales contract in force onor before April 30, 2010.

Persons who are claimed as dependents by other taxpayers or who areunder age 18 are not qualified for the tax credit program.

I wanted to share with you some great insight about surviving in the current market.  Yesterday in our sales meeting we had a wonderful talk by Allen Tappe on “The Real Estate Industry Today and in the Future”.  Allen recently closed his real estate company in Fort Worth and we felt he could offer great insight and he did.  He explained that the real estate Industry is going thru a “Rebirth”.  Customers that we did business with in the past are falling by the wayside.  Here is a statistic he shared that is staggering:  In July 2007 NAR reported 2 million agent members.  As of July 2009 there were 900,000 members.  The reality is that the “seasoned” agents we depended on in the past will only continue if they dramatically change the way they are doing business by getting back to basics and working very hard.  Most agents will not do this.  As a matter of fact a co-worker shared with us that while she was presenting the RESPA Reform program to a real estate office a past producer stood and announced, “That’s it. It’s time for me to retire!”  My co-worker followed up and confirmed that at this point that is indeed this producer’s decision.  I challenge you to “go back to the basics.” Start by working on your database, follow up on expired listings, market to FSBO’s, and have open houses.  Another co-worker shared that one of her top producers were making these exact changes to assure their continued success.  Unfortunately, according to Allen, most will not.

If you need help getting back the the basics please feel free to contact me!

HUD is requiring that loan originators provide borrowers with a standard Good Faith Estimate that clearly discloses key loan terms and closing costs and that closing agents provide borrowers with a new HUD-1 settlement statement. New RESPA regulations were published November 17, 2008 and are scheduled to take full effect on January 1, 2010. The "New RESPA Rule FAQs" were comprised from industry questions and are posted to facilitate implementation of these new requirements.

RESPA is about closing costs and settlement procedures. RESPA requires that consumers receive disclosures at various times in the transaction and outlaws kickbacks that increase the cost of settlement services. RESPA is a HUD consumer protection statute designed to help homebuyers be better shoppers in the home buying process, and is enforced by HUD.