Real Estate is for Dummies

I love real estate!   So do a lot of people that I know but they tend to make it more difficult than it needs to be.  Loan Officers, Real Estate Agents and Buyers are all their own worst enemy.

Let’s start with the buyers…

• It is HUGE. This is probably the biggest purchase of your life so now is not the time to use a friend or family member as your real estate agent or loan officer just because you know them.  Agents do MORE than unlock front doors to show you a house so make sure they are knowledgeable.  Loan officers do more than take an application and give you a rate. Online banks or the “lowest rates” can often times spell disaster… Make sure you trust and respect your loan officer.   Have you been to happy hour, golfing or the beach with your “potential” agent or loan officer during the week in the last year??  If your answer is yes then RUN!  One of the biggest reasons loan officers and real estate agents are not successful is because they abuse the fact they are self employed and work part time.  This is why they get part time pay and more importantly get YOU part time results…  just think about it.
• Be specific.  Real Estate is SUPER competitive right now and houses are flying on and off the market like hotcakes.  You no longer have the luxury of looking at houses and thinking it over for a week or two.  By the time you decide to drive by the house again you will looking in at the new owners house warming party.  Think it over… How many bedrooms and baths do you want?  Two story or one story?  Big yard?  Little yard?  What school district?  Check Megan’s Law website if you have kids!!  Do you want to live on a flat street (hills suck for kids to ride bikes on, play sports etc… I am speaking from experience.)  Be quick but don’t rush.
• This is an exciting time.  Don’t be afraid to enjoy the process.  There was a time when buying a home was a prestigious event.  I think it is time we get back to that.  Make sure your team you hire to work for you (agent, loan officer, home inspector, etc…) know that you are the boss and take this as serious as you do!

Moving right along to the agents…

• The old saying, “you play how you look” fits perfectly here.  Don’t be afraid to put on professional business attire when meeting with clients.  All to often I see people in our industry (loan officers included, don’t worry I will get to them) in jeans and a wrinkled polo and they think they are dressed up. Let’s be honest, there is great money in real estate if you work it properly and I think it is time we all dress the part.  Take some of the commission checks you cash and invest in some dress shirts, slacks, business suits or blouses and step your game up.  Our clients may not say anything but trust me they think it.  If we don’t consider ourselves professional business men and women neither will the community we work in.
• Find a good lender.  A good lender is not the one who jumps when you say jump, or sits at every open house with you, or “helps” you with your marketing.  I cant tell you how many times I see realtors use a lender because they do whatever they tell them to do, or because they “help” them with their marketing.  Guess what, if they can’t close your deals consistently with little headache what good is their marketing doing?  All they are doing is getting your name out to more people and then helping you fumble the ball at the goal line… Congratulations you are on the fast track to ruining your reputation.  This is not to say that your lender should not help you out and be there when you need them, I am not saying that at all so please no hate mail agents 🙂     All I am saying is sometimes no builds credibility (write that down).   This business is not rocket science and it is nothing personal, but we are in a R.O.W.E. (results only work environment) so make sure you assemble the correct team and be sure to tell your loan officer nephew it is nothing personal, you just need someone that would rather work than go golfing in the middle of the day or head to Vegas on a Thursday.

Last but not least the infamous loan officer…

• 90% of you suck!  (let me preface this portion by saying I am going to be the most blunt here because I myself am and LO and see how horrible we are as a “collective” group everyday and it is sad).  For a business (Yes loan officers you are a business) it is no longer enough to create a business that is reasonably priced and adequately functional.  It must also be beautiful, unique and meaningful.  Use your brain…  This is a fragile time in our business.  We are far enough away from the mortgage melt down for people to realize we are on our way up, but still close enough that the lending industry all but requires us to check the label on our buyers underwear to get them approved. Set the proper expectations upfront!  I know this sounds obvious but so many loan officers out there start the process off on the wrong foot.
• The process: since a lot of people that do what I do don’t seem to understand it, let me spell it out for the consumer and you can take some free knowledge

1. Meet with your loan officer.  I know you are busy but if you can try to meet them in person.
2. Discuss your plans with the house,  how long you plan on being there, is it on the high end of your budget, how much money you have etc… Trust me this helps us structure a deal that works for YOU.
3. Gather the documents (below are the basics)

• 2 years Full Federal tax returns
• 2 years W2’s
• paystubs
• bank statements (all pages… trust me)

food for thought:  as a buyer don’t tell the loan officer what they need.  If they ask for it trust me, they need it.  All to often I hear clients say “the other lender I qualified with didn’t ask for that”… my response is “yet”.   Loan officers out there do the bare minimum upfront to make the process appear easy to the potential client so they don’t scare them away and by doing this they may get the client but I can almost assure you the process will be a nightmare and they will have a frustrated client because instead of collecting it upfront in an orderly fashion they are now doing it on the fly in a hurry because they need to close.  (for a great article, Google “the perfect loan file”  Forbes did a awesome job with this write up).

• We have to realize that this is a HUGE job we are entrusted with and treat it as such.  Buyers have thousands of dollars in escrow, real estate agents have big commission checks on the line so everyone is on edge to perform.  There needs to be a consistent process you follow for each transaction.   Until you create a step by step process that you mimic on every file you will have chaos.  And chaos is the anti Christ in real estate.
• Play with your buyers.  Joke with them.  Get to know them.  They are people and respond well to interaction trust me.  Don’t be a secret service agent.
• Take your agents to lunch.  Take them to coffee.  Stop by and just say hello… don’t take up their whole day.  Literally just stop in say hello see if they need anything and then leave.  Watch their minds be blown because loan officers don’t DO THIS!
• Let me tell you something I learned over the past few years.  You don’t have to care about your realtors and clients as people… you don’t that is just the honest truth.  BUT!   IF YOU DO…. there will never be a question about whether you care about their business.  I have two agents that I have worked with for years and have come to a place where I care about THEM.  It is no coincidence that we not only close a lot of deals together, but we (the buyers, the agent and myself) have  a lot of fun when we work together…  This is a relationship business.  Remember that.  Harness that. Run with that.  Change your business with that.

The end of the year is upon us.   Instead of taking time off like most of this industry does during this time, use it as a time to seize more of the market share.

Peace-

Nathan!