How to Handle Multiple Offers as a Listing Agent

With inventory as low as it is, your sellers should be receiving multiple offers. You need to be prepared to help them pick the best offer for their unique situation.

Thinking about a career in San Diego real estate sales? 
 Email me today for a private San Diego real estate career consultation.

Inventory is at an all-time low, and if you have a property that is priced right, you should be concerned if you’re not getting multiple offers. As a listing agent, it is your job to help your sellers choose the best offer.

Is the best offer always the highest price? Or is a cash offer the best offer? Should you go with a buyer with conventional financing or a buyer with a VA loan?

The best offer can actually be any of the above. Ultimately, the best offer is the one that makes the most sense for your seller and is the most likely to close in the time frame your seller wants.

Let me give you an example. One of our agents recently sold a great house. An offer came in over asking price — in fact, it was so far over asking that we knew there would be an issue with the appraisal. The agent asked the buyer to add a clause that stated if the appraisal came in up to $25,000 under the offer price, the buyer would write a check for the difference.

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As a listing agent, it is your job to help your sellers choose the best offer in a multiple offer situation. 

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The buyer agreed to the clause up front and we went to get the okay from the lender. We needed to verify that the buyer had the funds to cover the difference and that the loan program would allow them to do so. In this instance, the buyer didn’t have the funds, so we took an offer that was a little bit less money but more able to close.

As the listing agent, our job is to fully educate the seller and help them see the upcoming bumps in the road that they might otherwise miss.

If you have any questions about dealing with multiple offers or if there is anything else you want to know about, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Why List Your Home Now?

A lot of sellers are assuming they should wait until spring to list their homes. As you will see, this is a mistake.

Thinking about a career in San Diego real estate sales? 
 Email me today for a private San Diego real estate career consultation.

A lot of our agents are hearing their clients say, “I’ll just wait until after the holidays are over and catch the spring market next year.”

Here is the concern for those clients: year over year, when we look at our real estate market here in Southern California, we’ve got almost 20% less inventory across the board than we had this time last year. Generally, homes are selling over 20% faster than they were last year. Based on that, you’d expect prices to be going on a straight vertical climb. The reality, though, is that they’re only up 2%.

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If I’m a seller holding on to a property, I’m listing that property now.

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When we look at this trend and factor in interest rates being almost a full 0.75% lower, that means buyers have about 7.5% more purchasing power today than they did a year ago, and they’re only choosing to use 2.9% of that. This tells us that we may be right at the top of a market shift.

If I’m a seller holding on to a property that I want to get top dollar for, I’m listing that property now. Not tomorrow — right now. In fact, with our own personal portfolio of property, anything we don’t want to hold through another market cycle is either going on the market or has already been on the market.

If you have any questions about buying or selling, please feel free to get in touch with us. Just give me a call or send me an email, and I’d be happy to help you.

Why an Agent Can’t Be Over-Reliant on the MLS

Today I want to talk about how the MLS has changed in our real estate industry. Ten years ago, our value proposition was centered almost entirely on it.

Thinking about a career in San Diego real estate sales? 
 Email me today for a private San Diego real estate career consultation.

You may see what’s happening out there in the market, but I want to talk about a functional perspective of the MLS and how it’s changed our real estate industry.

Ten years ago, the value proposition of a real estate agent was basically just the MLS. We had access and everyone else didn’t. They had to go through us to get the info. That’s not the case anymore. The bar has been raised for what a great agent does. Now, I’m worried about agents who rely on the MLS as the cornerstone of their business.

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The bar has been raised for what a great agent does.

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In today’s fast-changing world, you’ve got to do what other agents aren’t willing to do to survive. This means knocking on doors, working your sphere of influence, and finding sellers before they know they’re sellers. That’s how you create the best opportunity for your buyers. You can’t rely on the MLS for that anymore.

If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a line or shoot me an email.

What You Need to Know About DocuSign

One of my favorite tools to use in my business is DocuSign. When it came out, it meant I no longer had to carbon copy contracts, and that was a life-saver. It has saved us so much time and energy in not having to run back and forth to clients’ houses to get them to sign things. 

Because of the higher likelihood of fraud with DocuSign, it took our brokers a long time to accept it. Today I just want to make you aware of two things. One is a potential issue.

There is a group of attorneys who have made a cottage industry around unwinding transactions signed with DocuSign. Their argument is that since a client clicked on the DocuSign and signed the 10-to-20 page contract a few seconds later, they wouldn’t have time to read the whole thing before signing. They say since we know they didn’t read it and did nothing about it, we are liable for unwinding the transaction. The scary thing is that they are winning these lawsuits.

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This strategy comes straight from our legal counsel.

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So here’s how to avoid this problem. First, before you ever DocuSign something to a client, email them a set of pdfs outside of DocuSign. Ask them to review them thoroughly before signing the contract in DocuSign. Then give them some time, maybe an hour or two, to review the contracts. After that, you will get the DocuSign back and send them an email thanking them for signing it, and asking them to confirm that they read and fully understood everything they signed.

Those are the best practices, and they defend your business. It comes straight from our legal counsel here at KW. If you have any more questions for me, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’d love to be a resource for you and your career.

How Is Technology Changing Real Estate?

Thinking about a career in San Diego real estate sales? 
 Email me today for a private San Diego real estate career consultation.

For those of you who don’t know, Inman is a company that specializes in real estate technology and media. I recently attended a bi-annual conference with Inman where the brightest minds in real estate technology meet twice a year to talk about trends that could disrupt the way we do business.

There are two things that I took away from this conference. The first is that leaders in technology and venture capitalists are out for your money. They are looking to dismantle the real estate transaction, commoditize the agent, and profit from it.

The second thing was really an “a-ha” moment for me. The reason all of these search websites (like Zillow and Trulia) are able to dominate the search market is because they are not required to play by the same kind of rules and aren’t held to the same high standards as us. Some of these companies’ business models hinge on them breaking rules we are forced to abide by. You have the same opportunity that Zillow does online, you just have to work at getting yourself in front of the consumer.

If you have any questions for us, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

The Key to Getting Offers Accepted

Thinking about a career in San Diego real estate sales? 
 Email me today for a private San Diego real estate career consultation.

Today, I want to share what we teach our agents to get their offers accepted in a competitive market.

We utilize a great tool called an escalation clause. Most agents go back and forth with the sellers before making the highest offer the buyer can stomach, only to find out later that the buyer would have paid higher once they lose out on the home. The escalation clause ensures that this never happens.


When you write an offer, you need to write a short clause that says something to the effect of, "Buyer is willing to pay $1,000 more than the highest verified sales price." Feel free to contact me at JTaylor@kw.com or 858-255-1652 for the exact verbiage that we use. 
 
This is a great tool, but it's crucial you have a conversation with the listing agent so that they understand what it means. In essence, it doesn't matter how many offers they get or how high they're willing to go because your buyer is willing to offer $1,000 more! You also need to have a conversation with your buyer to find out what they're willing to do.

If you have any questions about this strategy, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We're always here to help you out!  

Is Your Failure to Delegate Costing You Money?

Thinking about a career in San Diego real estate sales? 
 Email me today for a private San Diego real estate career consultation.

If you would like to see the five things that you should be doing as an agent, click here. 

Today, I want to discuss the importance of delegating responsibilities in your business.

As real estate agents, it can be hard to delegate the workload to others because we feel we are the best at what we do. At Keller Williams, we know that there are 196 things you need to do in each and every transaction, but only 5 of them get you paid! Obviously, this means delegating is the best way for you to focus in on the dollar-producing activities!

Most agents hand something off to their assistant and circle back to them later to see if it got done. If the task didn't get done, rather than equipping that person with skills to get it finished, most agents will try to finish the task themselves. These agents then task-switch and find something else for the assistant to do. The problem with this process, or lack of process, is its massive inefficiency.

It's your job to be more passionate about not taking the work back and empowering your assistant to get the job done! The goal is to let that person fail forward long enough to accomplish the task and get it to completion. While this can sometimes result in minor problems or bumps in the road, allowing them to experience the ups and downs of the job without interference will help them improve. The better your assistant is at getting these tasks done, the more time you have to do what you do best!

If you would like to see the five things that you should be doing as an agent, click here. If you have any questions, I'm always available via phone or email. I would love to hear from you soon!

How Can You Make San Diego Real Estate Work for You?

Thinking about a career in San Diego real estate sales? 
 Email me today for a private San Diego real estate career consultation.

Email me today for your FREE copy of Gary Keller's The Millionaire Real Estate Investor.

Today, I want to offer some quick tips on investing in real estate.

As real estate brokers, we often fail to realize that we see the best opportunities in the San Diego market before everyone else has a chance to take advantage of them. Those who do realize it wonder if they have the time, money, and experience to make an investment pay off.

The truth is, a profitable investment in real estate is at your fingertips! To help you realize the goal of successful real estate investing, I want to offer you a free copy of Gary Keller's The Millionaire Real Estate Investor. In it you'll find all you need to know about making the right investments at the right time. Click this link to receive your free copy, where you'll learn the art of flipping homes, buying homes and selling them for profits, buying homes and holding them for rent, and investing in notes.

There are so many opportunities in The Millionaire Real Estate Investor, and I look forward to sharing them with you!

How to Strategize for a Busy Spring Market

Thinking about a career in San Diego real estate sales? 
 Email me today for a private San Diego real estate career consultation.

 

As agents, we know it's imperative to study the market so we can keep our clients aware, build a great business, and generally be aware of shifts in the market.

We've seen 2.7% more listings come to the market year-to-date. In that same time period, we've had 13% more homes that have gone pending. Since we've seen so much activity this early on in the year, we have 16% fewer homes on the market than at the same time last year. That's right - inventory is incredibly low, at only 2.5 months. 

Sales price to list price is an indicator of what the seller can expect. Recently, we saw the list-to-sales price drop to 96.1%, but that trend is reversing. In other words, we're heading back into an appreciating market where multiple offer situations will be more common. 

As an agent, my number one goal is to get the listing. I'm not going to fight the seller on the price as hard as I would 30 days ago because we're in a market where, although it might take a little longer, I will be able to get the price that they desire. Coming into the summer selling season, he who has the largest listing inventory is going to win big!

Keep an eye out for future videos, where I will discuss how you can increase your listing inventory! Thanks for tuning in, and I look forward to hearing from you soon! 

Why Is Choosing the Right Vendors so Important?

Thinking about a career in San Diego real estate sales? If you're a current sales professional looking to control your own income and success in a new industry, or you're an existing real estate agent who needs more help to reach your goals, email me today for a private San Diego real estate career consultation. I'll share with you what a sales career at Keller Williams looks like, as well as the great income you will earn helping San Diego homeowners sell and buy homes in our greater San Diego County area.

 Hello, and welcome back! Today, I want to touch briefly on the topic of vendor relationships.

As real estate agents, we understand that we're just one piece of the puzzle in a real estate transaction. There are escrow, title, mortgage, and transaction coordinators, as well as home inspectors, lenders, and insurance folks. Bottom line: there are A LOT of people involved in a real estate transaction. We encourage you to make sure you're in business with the best vendors because the referrals you make will impact what people think of your team!

From a business perspective, you need to analyze the relationships you have with your vendors. Money cannot be exchanged between myself and my lender directly, but referrals can. It's a huge leverage point that can lead to increased business, so it's in your interest to work with the best loan officer, who has the best programs, and treats customers with the respect that you do. For sending this loan officer clients, you want to make sure they help you prospect, promote and sell your brand, and are generally an advocate for your team.

On my team, we make sure everyone we work with provides us at least one closed piece of business a year. If you want to take a look at a comprehensive packet we provide to our vendors, you can contact me for the packet by clicking here.

If you have any questions about vendor relationships, don't hesitate to give me a call or shoot me an email. I would love to help you continue to grow your business!

It Only Takes 8 Words to Revive a Lead

Thinking about a career in San Diego real estate sales? If you're a current sales professional looking to control your own income and success in a new industry, or you're an existing real estate agent who needs more help to reach your goals, email me today for a private San Diego real estate career consultation. I'll share with you what a sales career at Keller Williams looks like, as well as the great income you will earn helping San Diego homeowners sell and buy homes in our greater San Diego County area.

 We're all familiar with dead leads, but what if I told you there is a way to revive them? 

The thing is, we often make the mistake of deciding on behalf of the consumer that they are or aren't a buyer, seller, or investor. In other words, we label them as uninterested in being our client. 

My advice for you today is to stay curious. It's as simple as sending an eight-word email, phone call, or text to ALL the prospects you labeled "dead" leads. I personally would send all the three, but do whatever is most comfortable for you! 

For the simple eight-word script, click here!

If you have any questions about this topic, give me a call or shoot me an email. I would love to give you a hand!

Capture For Sale by Owner Properties with this Proven Strategy

Thinking about a career in San Diego real estate sales? If you're a current sales professional looking to control your own income and success in a new industry, or you're an existing real estate agent who needs more help to reach your goals, email me today for a private San Diego real estate career consultation. I'll share with you what a sales career at Keller Williams looks like, as well as the great income you will earn helping San Diego homeowners sell and buy homes in our greater San Diego County area. 

Click here to register for the KW Global Property Specialist Network Webinar!

The Low Inventory Challenge: For Sale by Owner Properties

Welcome back to my video blog here in the Carmel Valley Del Mar office in San Diego. Today I wanted to present to you the 'Low Inventory Challenge'.

If we stretch back to about ten years ago, you might remember Shift, which was written by Gary Keller when we went from a high inventory to a low-inventory market and vice versa. His goal was for agents like you and me to find the best tactics to capture the most listings. In our case, we will be trying to capture a For Sale by Owner listing.

If you're like me in this market you're probably talking to sellers, and some of those people may not see as much value in our services as they used to. The internet has helped consumers sell their homes themselves, and because of this, you need to truly sell yourself to them and articulate your value proposition. I'm going to give you a quick example of this today.

"So you see, Mr. Seller, when you list yourself as a For Sale by Owner (FSBO), we call that the veritable 'Garage Sale' of real estate. You see, if you went to a watch store and bought a brand new, shiny watch for $1,000 dollars and then brought it home and set it on a table at your garage sale, you would never get $1,000 dollars for it, even with a receipt sitting right next to it. This is because whenever salespeople are not involved, people are always trying to save money. So right off the bat when a buyer comes to look at your home, they're going to knock off the top 5-7% of your home's asking price because they realize that there is no agent to pay commission to."

"This is why you hire me. Because I can show you my flexible listing strategy. You know, if you do sell it yourself, I'll even waive the commission fee and complete the transaction for you."

Don't Forget About a Free Webinar Opportunity

Did you know there was over $11.5 Billion in international real estate transactions that took place in California in 2013? In fact, California ranks 2nd in the nation for most international real estate transactions. Our regional leadership has arranged for a special webinar on Monday, May 5th at 11:00 am PST. On this webinar, we will be presenting research on the international transactions going on in California, and how agents across the country are leveraging KW’s Global Property Specialist (GPS) network to win more business every day. Click here to register for the webinar. There is no cost or obligation, just opportunity.

Contact me today for the full strategy that we use with FSBO's and I will give you the Flexible Listing Commission Program that we have used to sell and list hundreds of FSBO properties.

If you would like to contact me to talk about these strategies or about San Diego real estate, then please do not hesitate to call (858) 255-1652 or email me at JTaylor@kw.com

Our Average Agent Earns over $95K per Year. Find Out How...

 

Thinking about a career in San Diego real estate sales? If you're a current sales professional looking to control your own income and success in a new industry, or you're an existing real estate agent who needs more help to reach your goals, email me today for a private San Diego real estate career consultation. I'll share with you what a sales career at Keller Williams looks like, as well as the great income you will earn helping San Diego homeowners sell and buy homes in our greater San Diego County area. 

How are our agents so successful?

Today I just wanted to talk about the success that the agents in our office have seen so far. The proof is in our numbers, and numbers never lie.

 

Even though the number of listings in the MLS is down by 12%, our agents here in the Carmel Valley Office have managed to sell 26% more real estate than they did at this time last year.

 

Also, the average agent here in our office is outpacing the market by 32% with the number of listings that they're selling.

 

What's even more exciting is that you'll see according to this graph here that they are actually outpacing the market by 69% in listing sold volume, and we know that volume is how they get paid, so this is a great indication of what our agents are doing here.

 

So, give me a call to figure out how our average agent is earning $95,000 dollars a year.

 

I can be reached at (858) 720-1900 or email me at JTaylor@kw.com

Your Success is Inevitable If You Work with Us



Thinking about a career in San Diego real estate sales? If you're a current sales professional looking to control your own income and success in a new industry, or you're an existing real estate agent who needs more help to reach your goals, email me today for a private San Diego real estate career consultation. I'll share with you what a sales career at Keller Williams looks like, as well as the great income you will earn helping San Diego homeowners sell and buy homes in our greater San Diego County area. 

Your Success is Inevitable If You Work with Us

I wanted to talk briefly today about one of the 6 Myth-Understandings from the Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller. In referencing this book, I will also be telling you a success story about one of our clients who utilized this book and our guidance to become one of the best realtors in San Diego.

This particular myth-understanding that I'm talking about says, "It can't be done in this market". I hear this all the time from San Diego real estate agents. They say that San Diego is different, but I am going to challenge this thought and reference this massive success story from one of our former clients.

Paul Hervieux and his wife Emily came here from Montreal 5 years ago, and they are now in the top tier of realtors in San Diego. Paul couldn't even speak English and he was a bio-tech engineer who knew nothing about real estate when he met with us.

Paul and his wife followed the models and systems we had laid out for them, and then developed a scalable lead generation system. After this, they formed a fabulous real estate team around them. The rest is history...

In 2013, 5 years after moving to America without knowing a word of English, Paul was the #1 real estate agent in San Diego county for units closed. He and his wife sold over 200 units and made commissions over $2.2 million, which is walking proof that anyone can accomplish anything, no matter what market they're working in.

If you want information on how to accomplish amazing feats like this, or if you're just hungry for success, then please contact me and I would be glad to help you out in any way possible.

I can be reached at (858) 255-1652 or email me at JTaylor@kw.com