Some of Arizona’s most Successful Agents call John Hall & Associates home.
Monthly Archives: July 2008
Here's a quick story about the technology evolution.
Text messaging is nothing new. Chances are you have an unlimited text messaging plan. What’s new are the different industries that are beginning to embrace their power. We just got word from an agent that a channel 12 news reporter contacted her via text message. The reporter was looking for a real estate agent to interview for a story about Scottsdale home sales – check it out.
It makes communicating so much quicker. Pretty cool huh?!
Arizona Regional MLS System Officially Converted
This morning shortly after midnight the switch was thrown activating the listing maintenance in flexmls® Web and sending Tempo into it’s last stage before death… ’not quite dead yet’ mode. One of John Hall’s own gets credit for entering the first listing into the new system minutes after the switch, Russell Shaw with listing number 4000000. (Yes, the listing number counter was reset with the switch.) Russell’s accomplishment will be recognized in an unofficial ceremony where he will be presented with FBS and ARMLS coffee mugs. Congratulations Russell.
As expected with any switch throwing of this caliber there are a few small glitches that flexmls is currently working on. The largest of which is a bottleneck on one of their servers. So while they isolate the problem and get everything corrected, you might find yourself getting logged off of the system for no reason at all. We recommend you view this as forced practice with the new system. The second largest glitch isn’t a system problem at all, it has to due with the fact that passwords are now CaSE SenSItiVe. Make sure that Caps Lock key is OFF!
All calls regarding how to use the new system are being referred to FBS at 877-364-3934.
AZ Department of Real Estate Changed Your Fees
Straight off the Department’s website…
The Department of Real Estate is pleased to announce that as of July 7, 2008, it has revised the fee schedule for licensing and services provided to the Industry… [The Department] has eliminated fees for real estate licensees being hired or transferred… The Department also lowered the online license renewal fee for the second year in a row… Individuals applying for a real estate license will now pay more for the initial two-year license… See our new fee schedule.
Catherine Reagor and the Arizona Republic picked up on this as well and she wrote about it on her blog. (h/t @drubloomfield)
Working Together in Today's Marketplace
If you’ve never attended the Arizona Association of REALTORS® Industry Partners Conference, there’s no time like the present! The conference, celebrating its 10th anniversary this September at the Chaparral Suites Resort in Scottsdale, combines the three engines of our industry: REALTORS®, lenders and title/escrow officers, and details how important it is to work together as partners in the transaction. The conference has grown every year, and last year marked the largest attendance ever: over 400.
Today’s marketplace requires us to have more than just a working knowledge of the purchase contract. With new issues like short sale negotiations, foreclosures and financing changes daily, as REALTORS® we owe it to ourselves and our clients to become as educated as possible. The information provided at this conference is valuable the minute you leave. Many designated brokers use the scenarios to teach at office meetings and in their newsletters, as do the title/escrow officers and lenders who attend.
With the current housing crisis and the media frenzy telling consumers to blame their real estate agent and lender for the mess they are in, it is more important than ever to work together and help our clients. In order to close transactions and continue to earn our living, we must have an idea of who does what. The Industry Partners Conference gives each of us practical guidance and a true picture of the roles we play in daily transactions.
The guidance and knowledge from this conference will help you close more transactions by reworking your market plan, writing better contracts and more effectively handling closing issues. Part of the conference will be reviewing residential market trends. Even with the high amount of residential inventory, declining prices, a buyer’s market and the liquidity crisis in lending, residential sales in the Valley have been increasing. Since January 2008 sales of 2,912 (the low point for sales in any month this century), sales have increased every month this year. In fact, the 5,637 sales in May of 2008 was an increase of 94 percent over January 2008 sales! But the mix of sales has changed. For example, residential sales by home price range and how properties are being financed is dramatically different; i.e., FHA purchases have increased over 1,000 percent compared to last year. (Statistics from the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, www.armls.com) Part of the reason for the increase in sales is that agents are realizing the necessity of learning how to close transactions in today’s market. You will walk away from this conference with a good understanding of how to close resales in our market.
The premise of the conference is simple. Roundtable discussions based on pre-written real life scenarios create a forum for professionals from each industry to explain how they would handle or deal with an issue in a transaction. The scenarios are written by a committee of lenders, title and escrow officers, and REALTORS®, and are taken from actual experiences. There are over 20 topics for the tables, and attendees can select the topics of interest to them. Each roundtable session lasts just under an hour, so participants can sit at several different tables during the day. Some of this year’s hot topics include FHA Financing, Fraud, Cancellations and Earnest Money Disputes, Cure Period Notices, and Addenda Issues. Since the conference is attended by all three industries, it is more than likely that a working REALTOR®, lender and escrow officer will be present at each table, creating a healthy dialogue and different points of view for all of the scenarios. There are other relevant topics and an incredibly informative “Ask the Experts” question and answer session at the end of the day featuring Michelle Lind, assistant CEO and general counsel for AAR.
Online registration is simple: log onto www.regonline.com/63342_608290M
(credit card payments only)
EVERY CONFERENCE SINCE 2001 HAS SOLD OUT… REGISTER EARLY!
(Mary Frances Coleman (mfcoleman@cox.net) is the owner of The Real Estate Academy of Learning, and ”Coach Me MF,” a real estate coaching and consulting company. Fletcher Wilcox (fwilcox@gcta.com) is the vice president of Business Development for Grand Canyon Title. They are the co-chairs for this year’s Industry Partners Conference.)
John Hall & Associates Ranks 4th for Sales Volume
We made the list! The Phoenix Business Journal recently published their 2008 Book of Lists. They rank practically every category of business in Phoenix. In their most recent Book, John Hall & Associates is ranked 4th for Local Residential Sales Volume. We have been holding strong in that position, coming in 4th last year as well.
The List reports that John Hall & Associates had 1.36 billion dollars of sales volume in 3,821 transactions done by 741 real estate agents working out of 4 branch offices where a total of 35 management and/or support staff work… just in case you missed it. And, although we didn’t submit to the REALTOR® Magazine list, we’re happy to know we would have ranked 83rd in the country for sales volume.
Not bad for our locally owned brokerage.
How many ARMLS members threw in the towel?
On June 1st, Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS) sent out annual bills to over 36,000 members. They gave all the recipients until July 8th to get their payment in before shutting them off. Even with over a month to pay, last Tuesday evening ARMLS created minor heart attacks across the entire Valley of the Sun.
Forethoughtfully, Bob Bemis bumped up his call center staff on the following days expecting a barrage of phone calls from agents wondering what had happened. They were right, on the 9th and 10th ARMLS reinstated 1,358 members and expect to reinstate another 1,300 before the wave passes.
All in all - they are anticipating a 15% reduction of membership to about 31,000 active members.
Did you hear about the frozen database?
The ARMLS listing database that is. Nobody is going to be able to change/update/add/delete any listing information from July 25th to the 27th. Freezing the database allows flexmls® Web to convert the last of the data from Tempo to their system. Staples and OfficeMax have stocked up on notepads expecting a heavy run from real estate agents needing to write down listing edits so they don’t forget.
On Monday the 28th, if all goes as planned, you will begin changing/updating/adding/deleting listing information in the new flexmls system. As you may know, Tempo will never thaw out. It will remain frozen and will no longer have updated listing information. You will be able to access Tempo for about a month to give you a chance to get all your saved searches transferred over.
We know you won’t panic on July 25th, but we’re worried about the thousands of ARMLS members that don’t read our blog. They might be surprised to find their MLS shutting off this vital feature. So help us spread the word and encourage others to sign-up for a flexmls class.
Upcoming REALTOR® Events in Scottsdale, AZ
12th Annual REALTOR® Expo
Friday July 18th
9:00-12:30
JW Marriot Desert Ridge Resort
The Scottsdale Area Association of REALTORS® (SAAR) is putting on the 12th Annual REALTOR® Expo this Friday. With over 140 exhibitors and special keynote speaker David Fitzsimmons from The Arizona Daily Star it’s sure to be a well attended event. Pre-register to save $10 off your entry fee.
ARMLS Tech Fair
August 21st and 22nd
9:00-5:00
Monterra at Westworld
The ARMLS approved vendors are going to be under one roof at the same time showing off their cool products available to local real estate agents. Plan on attending if you are in the market for a website for your real estate business. More details to come as we get closer to the event.
Some peoples’ daily mission is simply to annoy you!
Check out this video…
Ever feel that way? Well, everyone does, it’s human nature but it is particularly likely if you sell real estate. It shouldn’t surprise you when you consider the uneven commission only income stream, wishy-washy buyers, and desperate unrealistic sellers. Now top that off with a spouse who wants you to get a “real job”, and it feels like everyone is simply out to annoy you. It probably isn’t true but just knowing that won’t help much. Try this:
Close your eyes and take a long deep breath. It may or may not help much but it will give you a moment to relax and refocus. Learn to let it go. Chances are that the annoyer has moved on to other things, you should too.
It’s NOT about you! It never is. People act out of their own self-interest and 9 times out of 10 – ignorance. Consumer focus groups have shown us that about 93% of consumers have no clue what you do to earn your commissions. That’s why you spend hours showing them properties only to find out that their cousin Ethel just got her real estate license and is going to write their offer. She’s a full time hairdresser though and “could you maybe review the paperwork just to be sure it’s right?” Sounds to me like you forgot to educate your prospect.
Don’t sweat the small stuff. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to higher productivity is perfectionism. A lot of real estate agents keep “getting ready to get ready”. Education is a wonderful thing but if you know it and don’t practice it, what’s the point? Some agents actually keep attending classes so they can feel productive without having to actually look for a live prospect. You don’t have to be perfect but you do have to be there!
Lower your expectations. Yep, you heard me right. Set those high expectations about yourself but don’t be unrealistic about others. I have found that when I am disappointed in others it is because I expected them to act differently. It’s like being angry at a dog who barks, they’re dogs for goodness sake, they bark. People are just people, they don’t live their lives to fulfill your expectations.
Now, watch the video again – you might just be the monkey!
Diane Flannigan is the Director of Career Development for John Hall & Associates. In her dynamic ‘Skill Series’ set of real estate agent training classes, she teaches agents how to improve their mindset along with their presentation, counseling, marketing, and negotiation skills.
The Improving Phoenix Real Estate Market
Improving indeed. RL Brown said it back in January, the PMI reports confirmed it last week, and here we’ll show you some ARMLS figures that support it as well.
The quote we’ve repeated a number of times from RL Brown is that here in Phoenix we’ve already drank our tomato juice and popped our aspirin. Of course he is referring to getting rid of the hang over from the real estate party of 2005. His report showed that 70% of the new home prices had remained the same or went UP over the 4 months prior to his report. He also discussed the stability of new home permits over the 6 months prior.
Jay Thompson wrote a nice summary of the latest PMI report that indicates even though our numbers aren’t anything to write home about, they are among the few in the country that are moving in the right direction. 85% of the areas studied got lower scores compared to the last time the report was done - Q4 2007. Phoenix was among the 15% that have improved.
ARMLS has reported sales volume increases every month since the beginning of the year. The news got even better last month when June ’08 outperformed June ’07. It was the first time we have had a year over year sales volume increase in nearly three years.
When we split the ARMLS numbers into 2 groups – above and below $350,000 – we have found that there is a normal market for the lesser priced bracket. In fact, there were more than 4,700 sales last month under $350,000. Compare that to the 35,000 active listings in the same bracket and that’s a 7 month supply. Something tells us the FHA loan limit has A LOT to do with this.
So between RL saying the new home market has recovered, more than half of the market that ARMLS serves getting back to a normal inventory level, and our PMI risk factor going down, we’re starting to look much better my friend.
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