ARE THEY CRAZY? Countrywide!!!

This is my last short sale in the pipeline with Countrywide.I use last in the truest sense of the word. It's the only short sale I have left with THEM and it's the LAST one I will take with them.

Their own people tell me their process are ridiculous but hey what are you going to do?
I had an approved short sale, letter in hand. However by the time the got it to me we lost the buyer. Bet you never heard that before? We immediately got a new buyer for the same offer amount less them asking for closing costs. Hmm..... higher net to the investor. I'm feeling a slam dunk here.

What I really got was "go to jail, directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $6000." "no commission for you!"In other words "that's great we will start the file over and send it back to the front lines. Are you joking me? After 8 months of working on this, 500 phone calls, who knows how many showings, and they have the nerve to act like we are overpaid. I'm thinking I'm at .89 cents an hour. Now I'm at .00.

Same offer, bigger net, start over. Are you paid to think? Does the investor audit these people? Our money is bailing them out? In the meantime there are now 2 sales that will bring this one down further and will probably blow this price out of the water by the time "Stella gets her Grove Back".

Why do we stay in this game? For the customers we serve. It sure isn't to help the banks that constantly have their hands in our wallets and their heads in the sand. Well I'm tired of looking at their rear ends. They need to be accountable. In the meantime they are bringing values down with how slow they are.

I had one home go down $70,000 over the course of all the offers before the bank finally approved. They lost $70,000 because the process is not streamlined, and people are not paid to think. Oh did I mention that was Countrywide and it took a Negotiaters Boss to step in to finally get it closed. Hello!

Help

Are you twitterpaited?

This is great info if you are interested in Twitter. Which I am embracing. Like any technology it's knowing how to use it that makes the difference. Thanks for the great pass and I appreciate to be able to pass it along.

Kim

Via Paul Chaney (Social Media Handyman):

There are two schools of thought pertaining to who to follow on Twitter. One is what I refer to as the Guy Kawasaki method which says, "forget the influentials," "defocus your efforts," and "get as many followers as you can." It's more of a mass marketing approach.

Up and until Twitter imposed limits on the number of people that I could follow in a given 24-hour period, that's pretty much the school to which I subscribed and just about anyone and everyone qualified (minus the spammers of course).

Since then, I've had to be more discerning and have actually found that to be a good thing. So, here are fifteen suggested Twitter follow dos and don'ts based on my current Twitter follow modus operandi:

Dos...

1. Focus your efforts - If you're in sales and marketing, hopefully you've outlined specific target markets based on demographic, psychographic and technographic profiles. Maybe you've even created a persona of the ideal client or customer. Find those folks and follow them.

One good way to do that is by using Twellow, which is a Twitter "yellow pages." It categorizes Twitter followers based on geography and industry and covers everything from aerospace to Web development.

For example, a search on my city, Lafayette, LA, brought five pages of returns totaling 100 people. Not a lot, but consider that a) Lafayette is a small city by comparison and b) it's in the deep south which is often the last to catch on to new trends. If you're in a more metro area, chances are your returns will be manifold times this.

What might be more relevant is search by category. For example, Bizzuka, the company I serve as marketing director, is targeting the legal industry. A search for lawyers brought over 930 returns. We are also targeting healthcare. A search returned almost 100 hospitals.

Apply that same methodology to your own situation and see what comes of it.

Twellow defaults to ranking returns based on number of followers, but you can also sort by
recent activity and/or whether the person has verified their Twellow account.

Each person listed has a profile associated with their entry which, depending on whether they've verified their account or not, could contain lots of information, including a bio, latest Twitter updates (good for knowing whether they're an active user or not), and link to their Web site or blog.

2. Follow those with real names - That's one way to know it's a genuine account. (It's always a good practice when setting up a Twitter account to use your real name.)

3. Follow those who follow you - In most cases it's a common courtesy. Chances are they're in the same industry or have some relevance to you.

4. Follow those following the people who are following you - Same rationale as #3, just once removed.

5. Follow those following the people you are following - If you've chosen to follow a particular individual for whatever reason (maybe they fit the profile mentioned in #1), there's a good likelihood at least some of the people following them would be relevant for you as well.

6. Follow those in your industry - Obviously, one of the best uses for Twitter is as a vehicle for networking, gathering feedback and getting advice. It's a great tool for meeting others in your industry or discipline.

7. Follow those you find interesting and/or entertaining - In all the mad rush to turn Twitter into a business communications and marketing tool, leave a little for pure fun. If you find someone's posts interesting, maybe they're worth following as well.

8. Follow those who use the same hashtags (ex. #nms08) to follow a conversation - Again, if they're interested in the same things as you, consider following them.

9. Follow those who @reply you - @replies can be sent into the public timeline addressed to people you're not following. If a user has addressed you in that way, might be fruitful to add them.

10. Follow those interacting with people you follow - If you see a tweet with an @reply addressing someone you're following that comes from someone you're not, they may be worth following. Check em out!

Don'ts...

11. Don't follow those with numbers behind their names - This is
a technique often used by spammers (Twammers) due to the fact that have
multiple accounts. It's a dead give-away. (One word of caution: When
setting up your Twitter handle, don't use numbers. Your real name will
do nicely.)

12. Don't follow those with no avatar - If you can't see their face, company logo or some sort of avatar, don't follow.

13. Don't follow those who only broadcast - Unless you know it's
an account set up strictly for that purpose - a news, shopping or
"tips" type account - don't follow. If they don't participate in
conversations with anyone else, they won't with you either.

14. Don't follow those who aren't active - I don't know the number or percentage, but I bet the number of people who've subscribed to Twitter and aren't actively using it is sizable. If a user is not actively maintaining the account, chances are it's dead.

15. Don't follow users based on their follower count - In social media, it's not necessarily how many eyeballs that count but who those eyeballs belong to. There are some very influential people who may not have huge numbers of followers.

There you have it - 15 tips for know who to follow and who not to. That's my list at least for now, though I'm sure I'll add to it. BTW, you can too! What criteria do you use in determining who to follow. Please share it in a comment. Thanks!

Finally, if you're not following me, please do. My Twitter handle is @pchaney.

Tell Sellers The Truth

It's a New Year time to stand tall and make a decision to tell the cold hard truth. When you walk into that listing appointment remember they asked you to come because you are a real estate professional and they are looking for guidance and solutions.

Now if your end game is merely to get your sign in the yard then you won't be in the game too long. However, if this is your career you get that it's a bigger picture. The bigger picture... your reputation, referrals, delivering on what you say! Remember you are dealing with folks biggest investment don't make it about you. Once you do you lose.

Maybe your excuse is you just can't be that hard on them, it will hurt their feelings. How would you feel if the cancer doctor felt really bad about your terminal diagnosis so he told you everything was fine come back in 6 months? Too bad you won't be showing to the appointment.
That's what many agents are doing out there with seller's finances. They are over pricing homes to get the listing meanwhile the market is passing the seller by till they are in ruin.

I'm not talking about the seller who won't listen. We all have dealt with them. I prefer to be the second listing agent on those because now they are prepared to listen and you don't have to spend my money on a house that won't sell.

If it smells, tell them, if it's cluttered tell them, if they want to overprice it for the market tell them. You don't have to be unkind you just need to be honest. Suggest an appraisal if need be. It will never be in the sellers best interest to tell them what they want to hear if it's not teh truth.

The Truth will not only set you free but take your career much further than a lie could ever take you!

Keep it real! Consistant! Positive!

Well, we are smarter, leaner, and wiser! There are less Realtor's, Mortgage Brokers, and Wanna Be Inspectors in the business. This is GOOD!

Now that you have rid yourself of marketing that doesn't work, team members that were order takers and people on your sphere list that shouldn't be there it's time to Make Things Happen!

Success is a state of mind, if you believe in yourself first, than your confidence will lead others to put their confidence in you.

Stick to the plan. (make sure you have one)
Stay lean even when you get busier. (save for tomorrow)
Focus on your past customers, current customers and your productive sphere. (this is a referral business)
Have processes in place to keep you on task. (people oriented people tend to get distracted easily)
Give back (you reap what you sow, good or bad)
Refresh Yourself regularly (when you're in a better state of mind you're more productive)
Keep learning (as soon as you think you've arrived, you just became a know it all! Who likes a know it all?)
Make a commitment to step up your professionalism ( Realtor, let's represent!!)

I wish each and everyone of you the best! Happy New Year!

Kim Knapp
Realtor Jacksonville Florida