Realty World Northern California & Nevada

If you have never been involved in the sale of a property in which the title of the property was in conflict to a deceased property owner’s Will, be thankful. What a complicated mess it can become!

Most often, this is through no intention of the property owner, but rather a misunderstanding of the fact that when there is a discrepancy between the two, the Deed of Trust supersedes the instructions of the Will.

An example would be the title to a property owned between two friends is held in 50/50 joint tenancy. They each have children and their individual Wills state that upon the death of either, their interest in the property is to transfer to their respective children. Though very well intended, the title is held in Joint Tenancy (with right of survivorship) rather than Tenants in Common. In this instance, the interest in the property would transfer to the surviving titleholder, not the children of the deceased owner.

Estate planning is essential and can save you and your heirs from a lot of unexpected, and unnecessary, headache and expense. Holding title to property that corresponds to your Will or Living Trust is a must. For information regarding estate planning visit http://money.cnn.com/retirement/guide/EstatePlanning/.

Terri Adamo
Franchise Sales Director
Terri.Adamo@rwnc.net

Reaping The Benefits By Engaging With Local Trade Groups

Many today are caught up in this new social structure which makes it possible to open communication between individuals, groups, or even organizations.  Generally, there is a common interest or shared value between those who open up this line of communication whether it be through a blog site, Q & A, or a social networking site such as FaceBook, Trulia, or ActiveRain (just to name a few). A whole new language lies within this social networking such as nodes, or ‘the social capital,’ and the list goes on.

This new relationship building base has evolved from years of people wanting to develop common ground between each other. More than likely the text books from my old Sociology Courses in college are being completely rewritten, if not revamping the entire course, to meet this new format of ‘sociology,’ especially at the rapid pace that social networks are advancing.

Within the Realty World system, not only are we moving our members beyond what they ever imagined in social networking, but we have other very high-powered programs for our members to build stronger business models for themselves. One of the most powerful programs to engage in is our local Trade Groups. As it states in the Operating Rules of the Trade Groups, the intention of the Trade Group is “to take advantage of Realty World synergism by pooling ideas, resources, and training activities for the purpose of solving common problems and promoting common benefits among the members of the group.”

In the same realm of the Realty World social networking initiatives, the Realty World Trade Groups are going to move to a new level under a new format that includes agents in the meeting, training, more in depth networking, and yes, the building of stronger relationships not only between the members but the common communities they serve.  We invite everyone to find a new commitment and become a part of their local Trade Group.  

Dennis O. Stewart, GRI
Vice President & Regional Director
Dennis.Stewart@rwnc.net

Anyone can be scammed; and although I have a pretty good nose for these things, I almost got caught by this one.

A very official notice was mailed to me late last week that indicated that I could save $2,706.28 in property taxes by requesting that my property be reassessed due to its decline in valuation. The letter has very specific details on my home including the Assessors ID Number. It goes on to say that they will handle all the filings with the County Assessors offices for me for only $179.00 service fee. Further, if the reassessment wasn’t granted they would refund the fee. It seemed like a very inexpensive way to get this done. Who has time filing papers? Just as I was ready to write a check, I paused  for a moment and decided to research this on Google. I found out that this is a scam. A great article was written on this particular scam by Broderick Perkins (Examiner.com).

Scott Gill
Senior Vice President
Scott.Gill@rwnc.net

His message of professional diversification is the right advice at the right time…

Not putting all your eggs into one basket has always been an anthem that good parents pass along regardless of the times. About two years ago when Jack Hirsch, Broker of Realty World – Hirsch & Associates, took the Council helm; his message echoed the tried and tested rule of diversification.

In addition to being an exceptional residential marketer, Jack is a very successful commercial broker as well. In fact, he holds the CCIM, GRI and CRS designations proudly. Often, the two separate disciplines call for a unique kind of person to master the challenges of success, especially in these times. 

To help other real estate pros make a transition, service commercial needs and use the appropriate tools to communicate and market to the commercial crowd, Jack developed a series of software programs that made the job easy to understand and use.  Jack has invested heavily in making these applications web-based and is unveiling them very soon. Everything from analyses to marketing material is a click away.

Especially true in this market, active agents are going to face opportunities that could earn thousands in commercial commissions. From leasing, management, sale and exchange, commercial real estate opportunities are there for the keen and well equipped associate. This means having great tools, and Jack, provide some outstanding applications to help you.

Jack has been very gracious in sharing these tools with the members of Realty World and I’d like to thank him for his unselfish and generous contributions to those who wanted to learn more and expand their knowledge and skill on the investment, commercial, and business opportunity stages. 

Please join me in extending appreciation to Jack by commenting below today. For a personal note you can reach him at jack@sbi.cc (I know it is a weird email address extension but it’s correct.)

On behalf of the Brokers and Associates of Realty World Northern California and Northern Nevada, thank you Jack, for your efforts and contributions to the “family,” Council, and mission of Realty World.

Scott LeForce
President
Scott.LeForce@rwnc.net

The foreclosure market, coupled with low interest rates, has provided opportunity for buyers that we haven’t seen the likes of for years; however, many potential buyers can be discouraged from taking the step to purchase due to the improvements necessary to bring the property up to desirable living standards.

If this sounds familiar, take a look into the 203K Loan Program, a loan designed so that borrowers can obtain just one mortgage loan at a long-term fixed (or adjustable) rate to finance both the purchase and rehabilitation costs of the property with a down payment of approximately 3%. To provide funds for the rehabilitation, the mortgage amount is based on the projected value of the property with the work completed, taking into account the cost of the work.

While most buyers would likely be interested in a one to four family dwelling, a complete description of eligible properties is available at http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/203k/203kabou.cfm. 

Terri Adamo
Franchise Sales Director
Terri.Adamo@rwnc.net

I am a firm believer that being in front of people, facilitating a live training brings about an increase of learning and impacting individual lives!  The ‘hands on’ approach is very powerful in that you can react in the moment and also have interaction with those in the training course. It’s valuable when everyone can participate, ask questions, as well as provide their perspective on a subject.

We are evolving with our training initiatives and will soon offer a broader base of courses to meet the daily challenges of today’s real estate industry. As we progress down a path of greater technological advancement, we are at the threshold of introducing a ‘university’ within our website that will open the door to WebEx-based training curriculum.  This online technology will still allow us the open discussions and interactions as in a live venue, yet our capability to record training sessions will allowing Realty World members to revisit a session, or portion thereof, as a refresher. This can be done at their convenience, when they choose, and as often as they want to. As we continue to add more training course, there will be a vast number included the university to choose from, opening the door to grow and expand in your business.

The high powered, twelve week Eagles Program will remain a live, in person course as it is specifically designed for hands on learning, team driven interaction, and accountability. 

With the format of the online university, we will educate more of our clients, offering the elevated skill set they need to go out and vie in today’s competitive industry.

Dennis O. Stewart, GRI
Vice President & Regional Director
Dennis.Stewart@rwnc.net

Part 3 of a three-part series titles “Are You In Or Out Of The Real Estate Business?”

In Part 2 of this series, you made a decision to stay in real estate for the long run. You evaluated and made prudent decisions on all your business and personal expenses. Now, let’s talk about moving forward. Today is the day to start deploying different strategies that you have not done before.  Be creative and have some fun! 

• Learn about new technologies like social networking that will expand your marketing reach to more potential home buyers and sellers.
• When was the last time you took a good look inside your tool box? To be successful in your progression, it’s important to use those tools. You might just have some really cool, effective and useful tools that were never used or maybe you forgot you had them.
• Establish your blog article series. Trust me, it’s not hard. If I can do it, you can too! You know tons of information about the real estate business and your local community that people need to hear about. After all, you are the expert.
• Reconnect with all your former clients to let them know that you are fully committed to your profession and all their real estate needs. Perhaps it might even be helpful to let them know just how great the buying opportunities are in the present market.
• Take full advantage of all the wonderful educational classes offered by your local Realtor Association.
• Apply for and acquire your C.R.S. designation, one of the most powerful designations in real estate.
• Take the time to freshen up and modernize all your marketing materials and presentations.

Most importantly, now is the time for those of you who are part of Realty World to make absolutely certain that you are fully aware of and are using the resources that are available to you. Remember, when you are struggling to find a gold mine, more often than not, the gold nuggets are right there in your backyard!

Have a powerful day!

Scott Gill
Senior Vice President
Scott.Gill@rwnc.net

Click here to read Part 1 of ths series.

Is print finally dead?

For some time now, I have been amazed at how fast video has grown on the Internet. Just about every major website uses video more and more to get information out to the public, faster and more interactively. What has also amazed me is how slow real estate has picked up on using video as a marketing tool for both getting the listing and attracting potential buyers.

I did some research last week about what it would cost to video a home for a “potential seller” and the average cost came out to $250. I’ve been in this business for a long time and know that most realtors might think that’s too expensive and would pass it over. However, I also know that over 90% of sellers select their agent over others when video marketing is offered. Well, let’s put it this way… 90% of Generations X & Y would; a growing demographic who are now over 50% of your customers. You see, with video rapidly becoming the most common thing Internet users are looking for, these generations know that the Internet is the most powerful tool to sell their home. Think about it. If you visit MSNBC, CNN, or FoxNews, video is pretty much all they promote on their websites anymore. They wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t the direction consumers are moving on the Internet.

Here are some really interesting statistics about YouTube from March of last year that I bet you didn’t know which makes them smaller than what they are now.

So my question to all of you is would you spend $250 on a listing if you could beat out your competition even 50% of the time? Or better yet, what’s stopping us from moving toward video as a marketing tool?

James Dwiggins
Chief Strategy Officer
James.Dwiggins@rwnc.net

The real estate business may get a bit of octane in its tank with the most recent additive that came to the stimulus bill being run around in the halls of Congress last week. Members of the US Senate approved (unanimously) to allow a tax credit for homebuyers equal to 10 percent of the value for resale and new construction. 
 
The proposal also caps the deduction at $15,000. Currently, there is a $7,500 tax deduction in place which is limited to first time buyers only. The new proposal includes all homebuyers and is expected to cost the government over $19 billion dollars of the proposed stimulus package.

It’s important for all brokers and associates to communicate this news to their clients once the gavel seals this bill into legislation.  This is most certainly an important and compelling reason to make contact with your client base and educate them on potential advantages of moving quickly into a purchase mode.

Scott LeForce
President
scott.leforce@rwnc.net

In any economy, saving a buck or two is never a bad thing. In today’s economy, saving a buck or two is nothing short of a GREAT thing!

VoiP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a general term for where voice communications are done over the Internet. A broadband connection (cable modem, DSL, etc.) is required. Some VoIP systems allow calls to be made from your computer in conjunction with a headset. Some allow you to use your existing cord or cordless phones with a special adapter. Other VoIP systems require a special VoIP phone which connects directly to your broadband connection.

Cost savings from VoIP comes in several ways. A single user price for unlimited calls in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico might run in the neighborhood of around $24.99 (as in with Vonage’s Residential Premium Unlimited Plan).

For brokers in an office scenario where phone systems have traditionally cost thousands of dollars to setup and have high monthly costs based on the volume of calls, there are VoIP systems available which provide the same features and functionality as large phone systems at a fraction of the cost. Some VoIP phone systems support plugging the VoIP phones directly into the broadband connection removing the housing of phone system and cables in a closet room. Additionally, these VoIP phones no longer require all of the phone extensions to be at the same location. They can now be plugged in at the office and then taken home and the intercom functionality works just like they were in the office next to you. On top of that, it includes unlimited local and long distance calls.

I would recommend that you take a look at a cost analysis from the last 6 months to get your monthly average cost and evaluate for yourself if it’s a cost saving item for your business. If it would provide cost savings, one of our preferred vendors, Packet 8, is offering a special on VoIP phones for an office at a cost of $29.99 per extension per month. For more information about Packet 8 service, contact Matt Lazaar at 866-760-4547 and just mention my name for the discount.

Tei Baishiki
Chief Technology Officer
tei.baishiki@rwnc.net