The annual Capgemini - Merrill Lynch World Wealth Report is just out.
7 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 28 2007 08:50AMThere have been previous discussions about bloggers responding to those who comment on their posts. Most commenters DO want a response. a) it's polite. b) it can start a dialogue.
A blogger does not get points for responding (nor should he), but her post does count as a comment. How often a blogger responds of course depends on how many comments come in between the times the blogger is on line. Still, some respond to many commenters in a single comment. Others make a separate post for each comment response.
How do you, as a commenter, feel? Does it matter to you whether you are addressed in a multiple response or a single response?
How do you, as a blog reader, feel? Do you want to read the comments in a multiple response or in several/many individual responses?
A suggestion to the Active Rain programmers: When you comment on a blog, currently you can either:
To encourage dialogue, it would be nice if we could have a posting at My Home if a blogger responds to one of our comments, so that we can answer a question, add to dialogue, etc.
19 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 24 2007 10:11AMThis week Rob and I went out on a listing appointment - a waterfront home just over $1 Million. Having run comps and knowing the neighborhood, we suspected that this price was too high for the neighborhood. We were pleasantly surprised by the home, its location, landscaping and amenities, and decided that it was indeed worth that price range.
We learned that the seller had invited five agents to interview - their marketing plans, their price estimates, their approach to selling his house. Each represented a different company or brand, and a few of them were top agents likely to have a buyer for that home.
After we left the home, more than an hour later, we thought - hmmm, we wonder if the seller had planned this approach to maximize his home's exposure. Would we have attended a broker's open house there? Probably not. If we had, would we have spent that much time touring the home and grounds? Probably not. Now that we have seen all the unique attributes of the property, are we more likely to think of it for a future client, rather than just finding it in the MLS? Probably.
We can ask the sellers to come in to our office for the proposal, but would still need to see the home to properly price it and develop a marketing plan.
Comments, anyone?
5 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 24 2007 10:00AMIt's the little things that count - or at least, those are the things we remember.
When I picked up my dry cleaning this week, they brought a bottle of cold water out with the clothes - they said they're doing this through the summer. What a nice gesture to show they care about their clients and their comfort. I've had hotel valets provide this, and Enterprise Car Rentals, and title companies, and open houses, and broker offices - but this was the first from a dry cleaner.
We need to realize our competition isn't just other real estate agents and offices, it's every product or service that touches our customers and clients.
7 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 23 2007 09:05PMDon Homan blogged today posing the question about an overpriced listing, and whether the agent was responsible for not advertising it enough or whether the broker was responsible because he didn't check the pricing. None of the multiple choice answers were: the agent, because he priced it wrong and took an overpriced listing.
We have discipline problems in some of our public schools - the teacher's to blame, the school district's to blame, let's sue somebody. Where has individual responsibility gone?
None of us are perfect - no individual or company does everything right. The true test comes when something goes wrong - what do we do about it? And how quickly? Whether it's our "fault" or not, if someone was depending on us, then we need to make it right. We need to take responsibility for what happened.
One aspect of that is pricing as well. I'll price a condo higher that is built by a responsible, quality local builders who for decades has stood behind his product, has fixed things that weren't even his fault, as opposed to a condo built by a one-time limited partnership, that will be dissolved and without assets when a problem arises. Who's there to take responsibility? Who will?
7 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 21 2007 09:14PMEnough questions about "Who Moved My Cheese?" -
My question is: "Who moved my Dashboard?" After reading some featured posts I wanted to go to my Dashboard, then to my Subscribed list of posts from colleagues I don't want to miss reading. It was gone.
There were several choices above the Featured Posts, but none of them took my to the familiar Dashboard. OK - somebody wanted to rearrange the furniture. So - where do I go now to find my subscribed colleagues blogs???
p.s. Since I haven't been able to go to Groups or search Groups tonight, maybe the Dashboard is related to that??
11 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 19 2007 10:22PMIf you’ll recall I met with Daniel Waterman and Mike Murphy of LuxuryProperty.com earlier this year in Austin about their upcoming website. It turns out that LuxuryProperty.com is gaining ground on their upcoming debut at the Real Estate Connect Conference in San Francisco on August 1, 2007. LuxuryProperty.com is looking to make huge waves in the “Web 2.0” Upper-Tier real estate market….soon!
The simple-yet-sophisticated web platform will display a heavy emphasis on the recent technology improvements of web video, blogging, virtual tours, and social networking. The rich and captivating multimedia property presentations should revolutionize the way the world experiences Upper-Tier real estate. Also, deluxe profiles on the real estate professionals will include links to each agent’s own website, creating a connection between the consumer and the agent. Soon they'll have a demo site. It looks at though it's just a "coming soon" place holder, but click on some of the headings or the main photo - there are actually a few different sample pages. Obviously the links don't all work as designed yet, but it gives you a preview. No referral fees required for business obtained from this site.
LuxuryProperty.com is offering a free 2007 premium membership (with links to blog entries) and special pricing/promotions for members of the ActiveRain community during the pre-launch phase of production. Get in touch with the Director of Business Development, Daniel Waterman, DMWaterman@Lux.com to get your free premium membership established.
12 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 19 2007 09:03PMIt's been shipped from amazon and should be here in time for me to read on my flight to Denver next weekend. The book was released June 5th and Frank talks about it in his blog that day.
Robert Frank, of the Wall Street Journal, spoke at the Leaders in Luxury conference in Dallas last fall, and gave us some of the information in the book. I was enticed, and signed up on the waiting list right away.
The really wealthy may not live in a different world, but they do live in a different country, one Frank calls Richistan. You may not care that the wealthy keep up with the Jonses with 400 foot yachts with basketball courts, submarines and tender yachts or that they buy $47,000,000 Gulfstream jets.
You should care about the demographics.
You may want to know that the number of millionaire households has doubled since 1995 - as have households worth $10 million or $50 million. You may want to know that the richest 1% of Americans earn more each year than the total national incomes of France, Italy and Canada.
If you think about these things, and determine how they will affect your market and your clients, and meet these needs, you may have the cutting edge on serving some of these clients.
7 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 17 2007 09:31AMIn the latest twist to attract buyers to inventory homes here in Tampa Bay Florida, Cambridge Homes had this full page ad this morning:
Vrrroom
Room!
There's a Harley in the House
For buyers who purchase an inventory home in one of their communities (and oh, by the way, use their specified mortgage company) Cambridge will give the buyer a free 2007 Harley-Davidson Softail Fat Boy motorcycle.
Most of the builders are trying to package their buyer incentives in ways that will attract more interested prospects than just a cash discount. I would imagine they've also worked out a discount from the Orlando Harley-Davidson dealer.
5 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 17 2007 09:21AMOne look at typical MLS photos tells you that some agents missed Basic 101.
It's 102 that tells you about arranging furniture, or adding color. It's 102 that tells you to time your photos to when the sun is shining on the house.
Basic 101 says - remove the garbage or shoot around it. Pick up the dirty clothes. Take the stuff off the kitchen and bathroom counters. Move the garbage can from the end of the driveway. Pick up the fallen branches or rusty bicycles on the walkway. Put the lids down on the toilets.
Do we really want to advertise the worst side of a home? Do we want them to imagine the house with all these things in it?
The sellers hired us to market their home. Marketing is more than putting something in the MLS, more than writing enhancing remarks. It's more than submitting ads and printing flyers. Let's start with the basics. Pick up, clean up.
Do it yourself, make the sellers do it, hire someone to do it. I don't care. What I do care about is how you present this property to the world of buyers. That's part of what they hire you for, part of why you get the big bucks. If you're not willing to do this, then pass on the listing. Life is all about choices. ...and Responsibilities.
6 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 16 2007 08:03PMSorry, but I'm one who has always fought and resisted exercise.
When I started on my Medi Weight Loss diet six months ago (and 61 pounds ago) one of the ingredients was to exercise every day. For three months I kept trying to fit it into my schedule, and never did. It's hot here in Florida. Can't do it in the middle of the day - takes too much time. Wanted to do it at the end of the day, but was always too exhausted to do it (yes, I know, that would cure the exhaustion).
My mornings are precious - not only is it time for myself, it's peaceful time to get so much done, from reading the paper to blogging to planning out my day. But it turns out that's the only time I can - or WILL - do it. So...
My alarm goes off at 5 am, and I get up and am in the car on my way to the gym before I'm awake enough to argue with myself. Who's going to turn around when you're on your way?
For the first month, I'd drive 15 minutes to the gym and after exercising, go back home to shower and get ready for my professional day. So, not only was I taking the exercise time out of my day, I was taking the extra commuting time.
Now I go to the gym, spend 30 minutes on the treadmill 5 days a week, and add 30 minutes of strength training three times a week. Then I shower and change there, and go up to the hotel lobby (luxury) and enjoy coffee and the newspapers, classical music, and a peaceful time. When I leave there for the office, I come out of the parking garage and the early morning sun is shining on the new highrise condo buildings, with a warm light that only occurs now in the morning, and I start my day in Paradise, grateful for life.
12 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 16 2007 07:06PMOvervue Condos
Certus Development, LLC is transforming a building into condominiums, ranging from the $200,000s to the $600,000s. Located at 939 Beach Dr NE in St Petersburg, it's only a few blocks from downtown, on the edge of The Old Northeast neighborhood, and overlooking some of St Pete's wonderful parks along Tampa Bay. You can walk to restaurants, shops, the movies, art museums, art-music-food festivals, and lots of parks.
When I first knew this building, a few years ago, it was an Assisted Living facility and we were moving my mother there. After a trial in that "cruiseship without the boat" she decided to stay and was lucky to get a unit on the top floor, in a corner with a fantastic view of the water and downtown. We kept telling her how expensive this would be as a condo. While it lasted for her, it was a great place - they offered choices, very good meals, entertainment, Happy Hour every afternoon with at least wine and cheese, trips out to restaurants, and a weekly tour to some place of interest in the city. She left before they closed.
Now the developers are transforming the building, adding a desirable pool, fitness center, contemporary look - new windows, larger kitchens with granite counters, and much more. It will open in the summer of 2008.
It's nice when you can repurpose a building instead of tearing it down and starting over.
2 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 16 2007 06:45PMYes, I've blogged about them before.
I just had a call from an agent wanting to show one of my listings. I took his contact information, and then asked - when do you want to show it? The response: "I'm here now and I can't get in." Since the owner was away, it was ok to show without notice and I gave him the code.
Then he asked, "Why do you use this code anyway? I've never seen one of those before." I wanted to say - "Just because of people like you, who don't make appointment and just show up at someone's door and try to get in!" But, of course, in one of my gracious moments, I didn't. I don't want to make him feel bad, or angry - I want him to sell my listing. So I explained why some sellers will allow a lockbox if it's coded, so they know in advance when it's going to be shown, rather than require me to meet an agent there. It's there for his convenience.
I listed a waterfront home this afternoon, and the seller is allowing a code protected lockbox. This seller, an engineer, asked if the code stayed the same - i.e., could the agent get back in another day with the same code, without an appointment. I told him that if the code wasn't changed, then yes, that was possible. Since he didn't like that, I agreed to change the code (I pass the house twice every day, going between home and office) after each showing.
10 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 16 2007 06:35PMIf you're a voracious reader, you always find the time to read. It's a priority in your life, so it finds a time.
For me, I read while I'm on the treadmill in the morning. I always have a book in my car so if I have to wait for a client, I have something to read. When I did Open Houses, I'd always bring a book. In the bathroom, there's always a book (in the house we had in Tennessee, we even designed a bookcase over a storage cabinet that kept books within reach). When I'm in the pool after a long day, if there's still light, I'll have a book to read by my "swim out". My considerate husband will occasionally bring out a lamp on an extension cord so I can keep reading after dark - but that's not a usual occurrence.
When I travel, I bring books along - always more than I have time to read. I read on the plane, I read while I'm in line. When I travel for fun, I read in the morning before my husband wakes up. When I travel with daughter Tami on business, there's usually only enough time to blog, not to read, other than during travel time. We both enjoy reading. I remember years ago when we were at a convention in San Francisco, and spending an extra day in our wonderful boutique hotel near Union Square - it was raining heavily, so we each curled up in a cushy armchair in our room with a book and a great bottle of Cakebread that we had bought in the Napa Valley. When we get engrossed, we've also been known to stay up after everyone else and read into the wee hours to finish a book.
Ever had your family grab your arm when you're in a mall walking near a shoe store, to keep you out of it? My kids did that whenever I went near a book store.
One of the best gifts you can give a child is a love of reading. Read to them, lots. Give them books to read, that match their interests. I've found that if an adult loves books, they've usually been exposed to them when they were a child. Those who weren't introduced to books then often never gain the love of them.
11 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 16 2007 06:27PMLawrence Yun, senior economist for the National Association of Realtors and David Lereah's successor, spoke recently at the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors. Despite this year's hiousing bubble, he pointed out that rising incomes and decklining home prices should have stimulated sales here. Yun felt the true measure of affordability is the mortgage obligation relative to income - and showed the Tampa-St Petersburg-Clearwater area at about the national average. He saw nothing alarming in this aream, and a very manageable market. He not only pointed out speculators leaving the market, strong job creation and baby boomers buying second homes as positive influences on the market, he predicted that if our legislators solved the insurance and property taxes that our area would not just boom, but be a "sonic boom".
Too bad consumers weren't invited to his talk as well.
2 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 15 2007 07:01PMThere are stories of horror and embarrasment about people who hit the SEND button too soon on an e-mail, or who hit Reply To All instead of replying to an individual, or who sent an e-mail inadvertently to their whole address book. It's easy to type out a reply when you're emotional, and intentionally or not, hit SEND before you've cooled down and thought the situation through.
Rather than rely on yourself not to hit the wrong button, or to hit it prematurely, when you have an emotional situation, I'd suggest you write your message in Word or Google Docs, save it there, and reread it in the morning before you send it. That way, there's no chance of accidentally sending it out, and in the morning, after you've rethought and reread it, you can cut and paste it into your e-mail program.
Sometimes just writing out your thoughts is catharsis enough, and you really don't need to send the e-mail. On the other hand, you may be ready to send it as written, or ready to modify or rewrite it and then send it out. Just cool off first.
9 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 15 2007 06:53PMHigh insurance and high property taxes have been a major part of our slowed market. Insurance issues were addressed during the regular session of the Florida legislature - though the result seems to be reduced increases rather than rollbacks of premiums and an assumption of some reinsurance role by the State of Florida in case of disaster.
After 3 days in special session, the legislature passed two prongs regarding property tax reductions. Counties will have to roll back taxes from 3% - 9% (though there are provisions for the counties to override this). Further, legislators proposed a new higher homestead exemption: 75% of the first $200,000 of value would be exempted and 15% of the value between $200,000 and $500,000 would be exempted. In order to pass this, there was also a provision that primary residents could keep their present Save-Our-Homes cap if it resulted in lower taxes. The changes to the homestead exemption need to go before the Florida voters and be passed by them before this can take effect. That election is scheduled for January 2008.
6 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 15 2007 06:47PM
The Naked Diet - Part VII
Here we are, Amy and I, six months after starting our medical weight loss program (appetite suppresant pills, B-12 shots, reduced calories of 500/day of meats, fish, poultry, veal, seafood, eggs and exercise).
I've been on hold for the month, handing on to my 61 pound loss. Amy has lost another 10 pounds, for a total of 92 pounds lost!
We both feel great, and have lots more energy than we ever had. Amy walks around her neighborhood every morning - I go to the Vinoy Hotel gym at 5 am five mornings a week to walk on the treadmill and stay 3 times a week to do weight training.
17 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 15 2007 06:32PMThis afternoon I met with an owner who had been trying to sell his house for about two months - at a neighborhood quarterly meeting this week he asked me to come over this weekend. We talked, adjusted the price, discussed the market, and he decided he'd like me to list his home, and I decided I'd like to.
Usually I ask why someone chose me - this time I didn't. The owner was in my farm area, so I felt it was because of my visibility, my strong market share, that I've sold many more homes here than anyone else, because of my marketing and negotiating skills, and reputation in the area. This time, the owner asked - would you like to know why I called you to list my home? Yes, I would. Because when I put my sign up, you were the first agent to call me. Now, I hadn't gone to see his house, and I hadn't followed up in two months - but I was the first to call him.
Sometimes we take things for granted. Sometimes we miss the very basic things. I had called him the day his sign went up because I need to know my market - what's for sale, the price, the amenities. I didn't call him to pursue his listing. But I was the first to call him.
We know that internet leads usually work with the first agent who contacts them back. Have we considered that in the non-internet world it may be the same?
He added that the call alone wouldn't have convinced him to list with me - he did need to check me out, before AND after he met with me. So you have to back up that first impression - but the first call got the first opportunity, and it stopped there.
Even when you think you know the answer - you should ask.
40 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 09 2007 11:26PMIn responding to a client's e-mail regarding a price reduction on their listing, I had recommended a price of $800,000 rather than $795,000. The response asked whether the $800,000 would be a SELLING price. I started my response by commenting that in this buyer's market (a 2 year supply of homes) it was very unlikely to get a full price offer. Then I decided to check the MLS for statistics before sending the response. It surprised me.
Since the first of the year, more than five months, 12 waterfront properties listed between $775,000 and $825,000 had sold.
Two were listed at $800,000. Both sold full price at $800,000. One was listed at $810,000. It also sold full price.
Five were listed in the $799s:
Four were listed below that:
The round numbered listings sold at 100% - the others averaged 89.7%.
Once again - you don't always KNOW what you think you know. Research pays for itself.
22 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • June 09 2007 10:08PMContent © 2009 'Frequent Contributors'. Design © 2009 ActiveRain Corp.
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