Need a shot of inspiration along with some solid market stats and advice? 175 sales associates got exactly that at the January 6th John Hall & Associates 2009 Kick off meeting! I sure hope that YOU didn’t miss it, it was worth every minute.

Jim Sexton, designated broker/owner of John Hall & Associates started the meeting with significant real estate influences in 2008: flexMLS, January’s BIG game, title company mergers, short sales and REO properties. All had their effect on real estate in The Valley of the Sun in 2008, some positive, some negative depending on your perspective. Those trends were followed by an overview of our real estate market culled from the records of ARMLS as well as Sexton’s experience.  Among his observations:

♦  December 2008 saw a 60% increase in closed real estate transactions over December 2007.

♦  Although we had declining sales for 32 year over year months in a row beginning October, 2005, sales have had a month after month increase since June of 2008.

♦  REO’s are approximately 59% of the current pending sales.

♦  52% of December 2008 sales were bank owned properties.

These, as well as other market information statistics, can be accessed and imported into listing and buyer presentations from the John Hall & Associates intranet.

Sexton gave the audience significant advice by recommending a book on this new and different market and agent’s adapting to that market – Shift by Gary Keller.  Keller recommends strategies for agents to “shift” into the new market reality in twelve ways: #1 Mind Set & Action #2 Expense Management #3 Leverage #4 Lead Generation #5 Lead Conversion #6 Internet Lead Conversion #7 Seller Pricing Strategies #8 Seller Staging Strategies #9 Overcoming Buyer Reluctance #10 Creative Financing #11 Short Sales, Foreclosures and REO’s #12 Issues and Solutions.

We also heard from Rick Mack of the local law firm Mack, Drucker & Watson whose information about trustee sales, REO property, deficiency judgments and debt forgiveness was solid gold advice to sales associates.

Based on the fact that almost half of sales are “distressed” properties in some way, Mack discussed the mechanics of trustee sales, as well as the perimeters that shelter some homeowners from deficiency judgments. He also clarified the December 2007 Debt Relief Act and what types of properties and homeowners would benefit. The questions where broad and varied and Mack encouraged sales associates to seek legal advice when their clients had specific concerns. His law firm has had so many questions from consumers that they have set-up a program where homeowners can get straight talk about their situation for a one-time fee of $175.00. Obviously if they need to see an attorney there will be additional expense. It is well worth it to refer your clients to experts rather than chance practicing law without a license or giving faulty advice.

The stars of the three-hour show were the Top Producing agents on the panel discussion. We were impressed with the variety of styles and business models represented by the three panelists: Russell Shaw, Joann Callaway and Alex Jovicich. It would be impossible to discuss all the great ideas that our panelist gave, so please forgive our abbreviating their remarks for the sake of brevity. Some of the high points include:

♦  The economic “meltdown” shifted their perspective and their business model to do short sales and try to make inroads into REO business. (Shaw & Callaway)
♦  The most important skill that an agent can develop is lead generation and lead conversion. (Shaw, Callaway, Jovicich)
♦  Using social networking to build a web presence. (Jovicich)
♦  Knocked on the doors of 25 builders in the southeast valley asking for special incentives for his buyers. His persistence led to unbelievably good deals for his clients. One couple in particular got a free car plus a $20,000 incentive from the builder. (Jovicich)
♦  The fastest moving market today is homes under $200,000 (Shaw)
♦  In 2008 they received nearly 59,000 calls into their office, they now examine each call carefully and don’t automatically reject anything. Nowadays getting a contact is an event. (Callaway)
♦  When someone asks me, “What was your best year in business?” I tell them that is a stupid question, your best year is always now. (Shaw)
♦  Getting “in” with banks for REO property is difficult at best, it is easier to find short sale sellers that need help. (Shaw)
♦  The key to short sales is persistence and constantly calling the lender. You also need some training in how to work them. Try www.noequitynoproblem.org. (Shaw)

This panel was an excellent mix; we had two strong listing agents – Callaway and Shaw and one strong buyer’s agent – Jovicich. Additionally Those Callaways are predominantly geographic farming and Shaw is mainly personal promotion while Jovicich works social networks and web presence. It was interesting to gather perspectives from agents with different tenures in the real estate business, Russell Shaw has been with John Hall & Associates since 1978, Those Callaways started their career with us in 1996 and Jovicich is relatively new to real estate since 2007. Sexton did a great job at pulling information from the panelists and opening up questions from the audience. We think panels like this drive home the point that there is no “one right way” to do this job, try everything with an open mind and see what works best for you.

What a great way to kick off 2009 – our generous sponsors (The Talon Group – Bryan Jones and Nicollette Baker, Counsel Mortgage – John Rapasky and 2-10 Home Protection – Fredi Stillman and Linda Leivo) helped feed us breakfast while the program gave us food for thought. This is going to be the kind of year you envision, Envision a Great 2009!

DF

(more pictures from event)