Posted on May 22, 2009 by Russell Shaw
Here is a professional quality video of Mike Orr of The Cromford Report giving a talk at a Mastermind meeting I attend every month. It is about an hour long and the specific stats won’t apply if you are not in the Phoenix area. His interesting and unique methods for tracking and predicting short-term price movement will apply. If there is something better available I’ve not seen it. Click here for the link to the video.
Posted on May 20, 2009 by Russell Shaw
Just as a gentle reminder to all of what the actual purpose of the National Association of Realtors is supposed to be: "The core purpose of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® is to help its members become more profitable and successful." You can see that here. Prior to reading this post – which most internet-savvy Realtors have now read – I didn’t know what "indexing" was and didn’t care. That was something I only learned in the comments section of that post. So I now ask, Is it possible that Paula was wrong to allow search engines to find all
Posted on March 15, 2009 by Russell Shaw
A great question from Mike Price in response to this post: Russell, What percentage of brokers would you guess use any sort of formalized tracking system for analyzing lead sources? At an agent level? When you finally created and implemented a business system, did you put into place your own tracking system or did you use something off the shelf? Excellent questions, Mike. I’m glad you used the word, "guess", because that is what I will have to do to respond. At the broker level, I am thinking any brokerage firm with 20 or more agents – that is still
Posted on March 12, 2009 by Russell Shaw
What is a "top producer"? How is it defined? Why would anyone care? Some would say if you are in the top 10% you qualify. I set the bar higher because the bottom 90% is doing so poorly. To be in the top 1% – of all agents in the United States – you would need to sell about 40- 50 houses a year. The first year I qualified I sold 38 houses. At 40 – 50 sales in a year you would probably always be in the top 1% in your area and in the country. Why does it
Posted on February 24, 2009 by Russell Shaw
I believe that the success of a rain dance has more to do with timing than the quality of the dancing. A few short years ago the discount real estate companies were being heralded as the wave of the future. "Traditional brokerage" was all but finished. Game over. Now the internet based, lower fee, more modern, forward-thinking companies would dominate the industry. Virtually all of the real estate companies that proclaimed this the loudest are either already completely out of business or have dwindled down to the point that few think of them as much of a threat to
Posted on February 24, 2009 by Russell Shaw
It would seem that anything, any idea, if combined with aesthetics can be made to stick. Someone will embrace it and buy into it. Apparently, there is no idea too preposterous, or so idiotic that it can not find a home. From young men wearing big baggy pants, put on backwards, to Indians wearing "special shirts" that will stop bullets, there is always someone who is all in. There is an endless supply of wonderful ideas from well-intentioned and those who only pretend they are well-intentioned about what "ought to be done with the MLS". Most of these ideas would
Posted on February 24, 2009 by Russell Shaw
Years ago my sister went through nursing school and completed all of the requirements to become a Registered Nurse and graduated. Nurses were in demand so she got a job as an R.N. quickly. She kept that job for exactly two weeks and quit. She didn’t like anything about being a nurse. Shortly after quitting the hospital, she took a job working as a bookkeeper for an accountant, where she stayed for years. She must have liked the idea of being a nurse but not actually being a nurse. Many men and women complete law school and yet don’t practice
Posted on February 19, 2009 by Russell Shaw
Truth is, I’ve been working on a three-part series that is not complete. But the following questions from John just went to the front of the line. These are odd times I’m in right now, and I’m not quite sure how to deal with it. As of the past week, it looks like I’m now on a 10 appointment per week schedule. I am absolutely slammed. I’m behind on pricing 6 properties that I’m supposed to be done with already. I am left with no "on the business" time so all of my projects have been on halt
Posted on February 4, 2009 by Russell Shaw
Let’s talk about commissions. Realtor to Realtor. We do it everyday with potential customers. Reporters can ask us how much we charge and then print our answers for other agents to read. You can call any real estate office and simply ask them or just look on their website (if they are willing to put their fees there as most discount companies are – and I am, as well). Would it be okay if you read how much another agent or company charges but not okay if you heard them physically say it? A few years ago when I was
Posted on February 4, 2009 by Russell Shaw
This is another Open Letter to all of the officers, executives and staff of the National Association of Realtors. Is Trulia better than Realtor.com? I received an email today from Trulia. Here is part of what was included: Isn’t it amazing this can even happen? If Realtor.com had been set up correctly in the first place Trulia would not exist. Same with Zillow. Neither one of them would exist at all. If NAR had set up Realtor.com correctly I wouldn’t have received an email like this one. Now or ever. Trulia is set up to make money for the stockholders
