That’s why it was such a shock to us all that morning when we came into the office and found that Sandy ( dear dear Sandy ) had quit to pursue other career opportunities. ( Translation was offered more pay somewhere else ) I didn’t even have a photo of Sandy after all these years and all the parties and gatherings. I felt like a schmuck.

The following weeks were tough. Temporary staffing were sending people out daily and sometimes 2 per day.( I told you we are a busy office.) After 3 months of this I was greeted one morning by Becky. I had been a little late getting in and apparently she had already introduced herself to the rest of the group.

” Hi I’m Becky, your new Receptionist ” she said. Before I could stop myself I blurted out ” For how long? ” Becky was quick to respond. Yes she had heard about the last 3 months and all of the turmoil that it had caused in what normally was a smooth running operation. ” Get used to this Face ” Becky declared . Yep she definitely intended to be here for the Long haul.           

” Great ” I exclaimed. I didn’t know what Becky’s skill levels were but I presumed if Management had hired her, she must have had a good resume. Besides , anybody was better than a constant daily change of temporaries . With that Becky promptly sat down at her station and I went into my office to get a little work done.

I guess it was a good three days before I got back to the Real Estate office again. I was eager to see how Becky was fitting into the job. To my surprise I was met by a Young lady who introduced herself as Jenny. I was just starting to form the question when the Broker came around the corner so I asked him. ” Where’s Becky? ” I don’t know he said she went home for lunch and she never came back!

Till this day we have never heard from her again. Talk about Over Promise and Under deliver!

Comments

It was not just a cost savings decision that caused me to be and out-of-office agent. It was because I did not see the value of having an Office space that I would have to commute to all the while burning up valuable time which I could put to better use than being stuck behind the wheel in traffic.

But like I said I had a pretty good system working. I would generally get up in the morning, Run the Hot sheet, print out the matches and hit the streets running. If I saw a house that matched my clients needs I would call them and show the property. Should they like it well enough to write an offer, I would jot down the information let them go off and talk about it over coffee while I went to my home office and created all of the paperwork on an On-line forms program.

Within an Hour I would be back in front of the Client with the paperwork in hand. After 20-30 minutes or so I would have gained all the signatures and made my way back to my home office to Scan and email the offer to the Listing Agent. Like I said, I had a pretty good system working or so I thought.

That was until the market started to get crazy. Suddenly it seemed as if ( thanks to my new Web_Site  a prospecting dynamo ) I had more clients that ever before. Now I am the kind of agent that likes to give all my clients personal attention and top notch service. This running around thing was starting to impede my abilities to perform.

Hence as alluded too in my post Deal_Or_No_Deal where I talk about my purchase of a new  Toshiba  Laptop Computer and my hope for its future benefits and then subsequently in the post The_New_Laptop_Pays_Off  I tell the story of my ability on virtually my first weekend out to Pay for the system. It was on that Post that Ardell   asks in her comment ” How did you print the offer? “  To Which I responded ” Ardell : The answer to that is in a future Post. Thanks for stepping in out of the RAIN. “

This was that Future Post. The Printer that I bought is an HP_460  portable Ink Jet color Printer. I had looked hard at the Cannon IP90 but was just more familiar with HP. The HP 460 has a larger Ink capacity as well. On top of it I also had purchased a Portable Scanner called NeatReceipts_Scanalizer  Which not only allows me to scan on the fly but also has a spiffy organizer tool allowing you to define different folders for your scans including those for the Tax Man when you want to scan those ever so important receipts. Printer was less than $250 and Scanner was less than $200. Thank you Staples  for now I am truly Mobile.

Looking back is fun. I still have the laptop, printer and scanner and have used it time and time again.

Now most of my clients call me after my_Buyer’s_Web_Site emails them with a listing match ( often times only minutes after the listing hit the MLS). I can meet them at the property and if need be we can write it up on the spot. Print it out, Scan it and send the offer to the Listing Agent in Minutes. There by beating all of the competition by miles using my proven system. By the way Congratulations is in order for John ( you know who you are ). John just closed on his new home using my system catching all of the competition flat footed for this truly wonderful custom built home in Portland Oregon.

      Herb Hamilton is a Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors working in Portland Oregon

                  Home Buyers and Investors Buy A Home or Buy an Investment in Portland Oregon

                              ” A Real Estate Transaction with Herb is one YOU will Profit from “

www.portlandrealproperty.com   A Web Site full of local Portland Oregon real estate searches for homes and local Portland School and City information.

http://www.househuntportland.com/  A Web Site for the home buyer of Portland Oregon Real Estate. Receive updated real estate listings daily or hourly 24/7. Sent by email on a street map with a Photo a Description and an Address.

http://www.portlandflips.com/ An Investors Web Site. Spend your time analyzing the results that will be sped your way within minutes of becoming active in the local RMLS. If your an Investor and You Want Potland Oregon Real Estate Investment Properties then this is your site.

As you look around surveying the other agents, ever notice how some people it seems are just naturals. They come out of the gate swinging and never look back. Then there are some people who make up that group or the 80% failure rate in the first 2 years. Oops! Did no one ever tell you that? Yikes sorry about that, but it’s true.

In fact I would be willing to bet that if you take into consideration all of the people who attempt to get there licence but never go through with it the failure rate is probably up around 95%. So how can we keep you out of it?

Probably the greatest thing that any one can do is to sit down and write out a business plan and goal. This also works well for the agent who is not happy with their production, or is doing okay but just wants to take it up another notch.

But before you can start to do the business plan there is something more important than that. Something that is so key to this entire problem that if you don’t get this you really have no chance at success. What is it?

It is simply understanding what this business is. What are the primary elements and how must they be implemented.

• First and Foremost Real Estate is a People business. It is built on the relationships that we establish through the Sale, Purchase, Rental or Lease of Real Property. We are not only Real Estate Sales People, rather we are relationship developing people whose product is Real Property.

When First licensed I have seen this played out over and over again. The new agent comes into the office asking how do they get to work with the buyers. There are as many different policies as there are different answers to this question. I submit to you though what I would consider to be the best approach for not only the company but also the agents longevity.

• NO AGENT should be allowed to work with any Buyer until they have a listing for sale. Unless you work for a company that only represents Buyers. Most of us do not. The reasoning behind this is that the office telephone rings because of listings. We do not live in a Country where the listings are a secret. Buyer’s do not have to call up and ask if we know of any house’s for sale. They can see them by the signs in front of them.
• By allowing an agent to share in the incoming telephone calls without themselves contributing any thing to make the phone ring, it is a slap in the face to those who have worked so hard. Now if an agent is to busy to work the leads and chooses to refer or higher an agent as a buyers agent then that is a different matter.
• By Forcing the No Buyers till you have a Listing rule, you create more product. Agents understand what the true nature of the business is like and every one wins.

I have worked pretty much the same way for most of my career. I have always tried to be the Agent that I would want to work with.

No high pressure sales techniques. You call we discuss. If we can’t do business we will part friends.

    Herb Hamilton is a Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors working in Portland Oregon

                              ” A Real Estate Transaction with Herb is one YOU will Profit from “

Herb Hamilton is a Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors working in Portland Oregon

Well that’s not to bad. So if the page I am looking for is # 257,000,000 it will only take me 16,062,500 minutes to find it. So what if I do not have the time to look for the next 31.7 years to look for this page? You probably might need a few more search terms.

But even if you were to have the perfect search terms it is still a needle in the haystack search. I don’t know about you, but those are just to long of odds.

What if……?

Come check this out.  Out of_State_Homes . Here you will be presented with a variety of homes in various Cities and States and Price Ranges. No obligation required just Homes, Homes and more Homes.

If your looking for a Portland Oregon Home be sure to check out all the MLS Listings right here at The_Pickle where you can search for homes on a neighborhood map and see the results as quick as the push of a button.

If you want to be more proactive about your Real Estate Home buying search effort then by all means you should sign up for the free email service to Find_Your_Home in_Portland  Oregon just follow the link to House Hunt Portland. This is like a dream come true for todays home buyer. The service will deliver results to you 24/7 within 20 minutes of the property hitting the market if you choose so. No agent can even come close to providing you srvice as fast as this automated service can.

Home buyer after home buyer who have recently signed up for this service are beating all of the competition to the best listings. What Does IT Cost? Nothing, Zero, Nada. I only ask that if you use the service that you intend to use my broker services as well to help you purchase.

                                                                      So are you ready ?                 I am!      

No high pressure sales techniques. You call we discuss. If we can’t do business we will part friends.

    Herb Hamilton is a Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors working in Portland Oregon

                              ” A Real Estate Transaction with Herb is one YOU will Profit from “

Herb Hamilton is a Real Estate Broker with RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors working in Portland Oregon

Two days ago while having coffee at My_favorite_coffee_shop_University_Park_Coffee  in North Portland, I witnessed an Older Lady discussing with the teller the appropriate amount for a Tip. After the Lady left, the Teller and I had a good laugh as I shared with her a story about Gratuity_and_Poor_Service.  The young lady working behind the Coffee Bar agreed with me and my story completely.

This morning when I walked into University Park Coffee for my morning wake up call the young lady was waiting. She told me that yesterday evening a group of friends and her had gone out for dinner and drinks. They were taken aback by the poor service that they received. In fact she made a point at telling me just how poorly they were treated for what appeared to be no reason at all. Before they left she mentioned my story to her friends. They all had a good laugh and left deciding that the poor service they received deserved no tip.

On the subject of Good Service and Gratuity in any service oriented industry, good service has its own rewards. They can come in the form of tips or even advancement in position or new jobs.

In Real Estate a bi-product of Good Service is the recommendation ( a referral ) from our clients to others. These are the highest forms of compliments that we can receive. Like wise if we perform badly we are likely not to hear from our past clients at all. And sometimes we wish we would not hear from them if they were terribly offended.

The Reward for  Poor Service does nothing to further the cause of this great nation. In deed the reward for poor service be it a tip or a referral does great harm. The reward for poor service is a validation to those providing the poor service that we accept there minimum standards as good enough. If we continue to reward minimum standards a downward spiral effect will eventually erode the great work that our ancestors started, that work that once said you were getting the best because it is MADE IN THE USA , be it a product or service.

Rewarding Poor Service degrades us all and is a slap in the face to those providing excellent service be they Wait staff or Real Estate Agents.

In 1988 as I began my Real Estate career in Oregonthe Personal computer was in its infancy . Most of us had small computers. In my small town the Commodore 64 was king. Back then the main function of the home computer was games. Software written for business was around but was pretty crude and any really good program was too large for the average consumer to use on their small memory computer. For these were the days before cell phones.

Innovation was the key for most of us. In those first months I was not able to afford much as I was just learning the ropes. My broker had given me a booklet of amortization tables and I had a hand held calculator which I believe cost a grand total of $5.95.

I remember being somewhat embarrassed about the whole situation each and every time a client would ask ” What would the house payment be on something like that ? “ So I started to make a game out of it. I would hand over the amortization book and the calculator to the couple i was working with and I would then give them the numbers. It was kind of fun and kept everyone occupied as we made our way to the next house.

A few months went by and I sprung for the HP12c. This is the Bankers financial real estate calculator. I still have and use mine today. However because it can do it all and the entry of the numbers and buttons to push are complicated there really is no interaction or participation with your Buyer’s or Sellers.

In the Old days I filled out an offer sheet ( back then it was just One sheet ) with the aid of my Buyer’s. I used to love to use what was known as the Order Blank Close. I would Slide a copy of the listing over in front of the Lady and I would ask verbal questions of the Guy.

Something like this : 

• Q for Guy : Could you write down on this paper you and your wife’s full names.
• Q for Lady: What is the address of the house?
• Q for Guy : What type of Loan did you say you would be getting?
• Q for Lady : What is the listed price of the home?

For each question that I asked of them I would write down there answers. That is in essence the Order Blank Close. The last thing you have to do is ask for signatures. Again much like the Calculator game it keeps all involved and focused on the task.

Today however with my laptop and on-line forms I generally ask questions and fill the forms out in advance sometimes emailing the entire thing to my client without personally sitting down together at the table. Although this technique I usually reserve for my long term professional clients who buy multiple properties from me yearly. Still even when sitting at the same table with first time buyers the amount of interaction is limited by the use of technology.

The pattern as you can see that has emerged is that there is a certain amount of disconnect with the client because of technology. I am not suggesting going back to the old ways. I am just suggesting that we should be aware of the disconnect and learn to replace it. Other wise we may eventually find so much of a disconnect that there would be no reason to connect at all.

Update : Part 2  Face_To_Face_Vs_Technology_Partners_or_Adversary’s 

Interested in How Technology can find you your next Home? Come to House_Hunt_Portland and let your next home find you!

Be sure to stop by www.portlandrealproperty.com for general Portland Oregon information. You will find Portland Public School information as well as area Golf courses. The Site is full of information.

However because of the tone in the Buyer’s voice, a tone that gave me the impression he thought that he deserved a reduction in price, I asked ” What causes you to ask that “? His straight up answer was “ Because it’s a Buyer’s Market Right? ”.

In Portland Oregon over the last year we have had a decrease in market prices and an increase in inventory. The only problem with his question was that this home had been on the market for less than 12 hours and it had real estate agents and thier Buyers crawling all over it. I recognized many of the agents and could see in their eyes the excitement. This truly was an amazing property and very very agressively priced.  A victorian such as this will get multiple offers.

The question asked earlier in the day by me Buyer started me to thinking about the differences in a Buyer’s Market and a Seller’s Market. I have touched on this subject once before on my Portland_Flips_Business_Blog  .

So what are the elements? Well certainly over the last several years as the market has continued to expand, one would have to conclude that was a Seller’s Market. Prices were constantly going up, speculation was often the name of the game and Seller’s were reaping relatively quick rewards for their properties.

So then to be a Buyer’s Market the opposite must be true? One of falling sales prices, rising inventories and strong competition to make your property the most attractive with little or no profits at all for the Seller’s perhaps even selling at a loss as it has been in many parts of the country for the last couple of years or so. 

In this type of market you would conclude that Buyer’s following sound business principles of Buy Low and Sell High would then be in a Feeding Frenzy. Especially in areas that have been notoriously expensive to purchase. While interest rates are relatively low and prices are down you would think that all of the people who had hoped to purchase and were unable to during the Seller’s Market would be all over this Buyer’s Market. The pent up demand for those who have wanted to buy and had been priced out certainly would propel the amount of sales in a Buyer’s Market well past any number done in a Seller’s Market.

That however is not the case. In fact it has not been the case at all in the last 20 years. I have watched as markets went through there normal cycles of highs and lows.The reality is that Buyer’s tend to make more purchase’s in a Seller’s Market often times competing for the same homes while driving up the prices even further.

So what about this Buyer’s Market then? Well if Buyer’s don’t or won’t take advantage of the conditions then by it’s own default there can be no Buyer’s Market.

Do you Agree or Disagree? For me I think there is no such thing as a Buyer’s Market or for that matter a Seller’s Market. There is Just a Real Estate Market.

Let_Your_Next_Home_Find_You  Automated search for Portland Oregon Real Estate using Your Criteria.

Investor’s_Real_Estate_Search_Engine  Take advantage of this a true Real Estate Investors dream tool.

Keeping your Seller Happy is of course what we all want to do. Yet too often we substitute sound business practices with expensive activities that do not produce results under the guise that we are keeping our Seller’s Happy. With only so much money available to be spent especially in today’s market, working Smart is imperative.

There is only one activity that will keep any Seller happy and that is a Sale. Yet there is not a day that goes by that I don’t read or hear those awful words ” You have to keep your Seller Happy “. Mean while each and every year we spend untold hundreds if not thousands of dollars on seminars, books and the like, hoping to find new ways to advertise and promote our properties. Yet when push comes to shove many of us immediately cave in to the old mantra of Keeping Our Seller Happy.

The one thing that we are taught early on in our business as professional real estate sales people and Broker’s is to promote our selves as professionals. After all we do have a license by the State to conduct real estate activity. And don’t we all participate in continuing education as required by the Real Estate Agency in order to maintain that License. Yet we often allow ourselves to be manipulated by those who would employ us for our expertise and knowledge into working passive marketing techniques that we know will produce little or no results.

I ask you. How much respect would you have for your Doctor or your Attorney if they allowed you to dictate to them how they should conduct their business while representing you?

It is time for us all to stand up, create and execute a plan for marketing our homes with conviction. For we are the professionals and it is time we started acting like it!

Real_Estate_Broker_Herb_Hamilton’s_Portland_Or._MLS_&_Buyer’s_Web_Site  Let Your next Home find you!

” A Real Estate Transaction With Herb is one You will Profit from “

Even somewhat stranger, most of us have received similar training in fact many of us have received the training from the same source. Yet we all seem to develop our own styles.

This last week was an extremely busy week for me. I had a couple of closings and have been busy working with a couple of new Buyer’s moving to Downtown Portland.

But this is not about my busy schedule as a Buyer’s Agent or as a Seller’s Agent. It is about Real Estate Agent’s and their different styles while working with Buyer’s.

It was during this busy showing schedule last week that I and my Client’s witnessed another agent working with her Buyer’s. In fact we bumped into them on more than one occasion. Obviously we were working the same price range and the same area in downtown Portland.

What was strikingly different to my clients and I was our different approach as to how we worked. The other Agent chose to shuffle her people through the home quickly without giving any time for take in the room or for any questions. All the while constantly chattering about her life, past buyer’s experiences and features of the home that she loved but did not seem concerned if they seen them or not.

Now I am kind of OLD SCHOOL when it comes to showing residential real estate. I prefer to let my client’s discover the home on their own as we walk through it together, carefully making sure that they do not miss any features that were on their hot list. I am always quite prepared to answer any questions that come up, as I have previewed most of the homes prior to showing.

It was obvious to all of us that this agent had not previewed any of the homes. It was also obvious that the Buyer’s, specifically the husband was beginning to grow tired of her Sheep Herding style of showing property as well as her stories of past conquests. In fact during a brief absence while the agent was trying to get the garage door open. We heard the two buyer’s having a quick discussion. The husband wanted to call off the showings while his wife was trying to convince him to hang on as they may see something they liked. After all she remarked, they could always call someone else to write an offer. They quickly agreed sharing a quick smile between themselves just as the Sheep Herder reappeared continuing with her constant diatribe.

We did not run into the couple again but they were the subject of many a conversation there after as we speculated about what might transpire with their search for a home compared with our search.

What about you? Do you drive your herd to Market with a Whip? Or do you allow them to Graze.

Buyer’s_Let_Your_Next_Home_Find_You with this handy MLS search covering properties for sale in Portland Oregon.

Looking for that special Home? Don’t know if you want to take the plunge and involve an agent?  The Pickle then is the perfect place for you! Just hit the Search Button at the top of the page and you are on your way.

If you see something exciting then ” Call Herb and Start Packing”

If you can’t here the screams for help, perhaps it’s because of all the complaining you’ve been doing. The Real Estate Market that we are experiencing is a natural part of Business.

• It is NOT NATURAL for Real Estate prices to escalate yearly in double digits.
• It is also NOT NATURAL for Seller’s and Agent’s to price properties at $25,000 TO $50,000 or more above market value.

If this was the kind of market you had been experiencing or even worse if this was the only kind of market you knew, I FEEL SORRY FOR YOU!

For you do not have a clue what the Real Estate Market is Like. So what is the Job of a Real Estate Agent then? And for that matter the Job of a Buyer or a Seller in a Normal Market?

It is a Business that requires the Agent to have and use :

• Education
• Negotiation skills
• Psychological skills
• Social skills
• Marketing skills
• Tenacity
• Perseverance
• Dedication
• And the list goes on and on

Buyer’s and Seller’s Must also possess skills :

• Social Skills
• Perseverance
• Tollerance
• Understanding
• Patience
• Trust
• Enthusiasm

So then just what is Real Estate? It is almost easier to define what Real Estate IS NOT!

Contrary to the last few years popular belief.

It is not a Real Estate Agent or Broker’s Job to :

• Tell Seller’s what they must sell there home for
• Tell Buyer’s what they must pay for a home

It is our Job to bring Motivated Buyer’s and Seller’s together where market conditions will determine the value of the asset.

***********

If you are not the busiest Agent you have ever been right now, it is because you do not know what it takes to be a Great Agent! For a Great Agent is Busy marketing, Prospecting, Showing and writing Contracts!

Being busy is not all about showing properties to the 40 or so people who drove by your new listing. That kind of thinking was developed in the recent hay days of the market. It is also the kind of thinking and mind set that will have you out of business before you even know it. I would venture to guess that there are allot of you this very moment who are out of the business, YOU JUST DON”T KNOW IT!

Some years ago a Real Estate Agent friend of mine was working in a small community that had lost most of it’s Jobs. People were terrified and I thought it must be a terrible market to be in.

                                    NO JOBS = NO MONEY= NO SALES

Without a job and money how would any one buy a Home I wondered. My friend pointed out : ” That my Friend is Defeatist Thinking! “ This is a time for opportunity he said. The Market will not stay like this forever. Those Agent’s that are sitting on their posterior proclaiming DOOM and GLOOM are my biggest asset. While Buyer’s who dont recognize what a great time it is to buy and Seller’s who feel they can over price thier homes are my biggest liabilty.

If you want to be successful and turn Buyer’s and Seller’s dreams into reality then it is time to get back to the basics . It is not about dressing up in the fanciest clothes or driving the Biggest Car. It is the fundamentals of Real Estate Sales.

Do you WANT TO BE NUMBER ONE ?   Do you WANT TO BE A SUCCESS ?

Then go to work. If you do not have the Skills then develop them. Or better yet just sit back and let the rest of us fly on by.

Are you looking to purchase some of the greatest real estate in the WORLD? Do you want to be notified of new properties coming on the Market in and instant. Stay ahead of the Competition. Get the Best Buys First.

Investor’s_Web_Site_for_Portland_Ore._Real_Estate  Investor’s are not the only one who can benefit from technology. Let_Your_Next_Home_Find_You  search here for you downtown Portland Oregon Home. This Fabulous web site will search for your next home 24/7 and alert you within minutes! www.househuntportland.com

For more Portland Oregon and Downtown information please come to www.portlandrealproperty.com

Of course you can always Search right here on The_Pickle using this fabulous IDX Search tool for Portland Oregon.

All Presented to you by your RE/MAX Broker Herb Hamilton of RE/MAX Preferred Inc. Realtors serving the greater Portland Metro area.

Buyer’s Agency and Seller’s Agency practiced here.

” A Real Estate Expierience with Herb is One YOU Will Profit From “

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