NAR India Blog 2013

Excerpts from the Article "NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE SUCCESS"

The quest for a tomorrow that is better than today - measured in terms of wealth, is what defines the business or mercantile aspect of the Gujarati community. Kalpesh Shah, President, National Association of Realtors – India (NAR-I), believes that the Gujarati community is an apt example of India’s success story: “It is about being unwilling to accept life as it is; the willingness to work hard, take calculated risks and work towards a better future.” 

What sets the Gujarati work ethic apart? It is not just ‘hard working’, but also ‘smart working’, focussed on not just earning, but also the creation of wealth, adds Shah. The one Gujarati who has ‘top of the mind’ recall for Shah is the Late Dhirubhai Ambani. “He went from rags to riches in a way that India wants to emulate,” he points out. As President of NAR-I, Shah represents the ‘global best practices’ being implemented in India’s real estate sector. “Traditionally, the ‘middleman’ in Indian real estate was the ‘grease’ that ensured smooth business. The evolution of the broker or dalal into a professional who is ‘in sync with global trends’ as a member of NAR-I also mirrors the change that the Gujarati community is undergoing,” Shah explains.

To understand emerging customer issues and service delivery considerations

Listen to the minds of the top leaders of the industry

Witness thought provoking presentations, panel discussions and case studies

Be informed about the regulatory landscape

Networking opportunities with the best in the Industry

Tremendous opportunity for business & investments

To share knowledge and expertise

To share experiences of business in other states/cities

To raise issues and concerns of common concern

Who should attend?

Brokers/ Realtors/ Agents/ Consultants/ Property dealers

Market Analysts

Legal Service Providers

Tax Consultants

Architects and Town Planners

Investors

Venture Capitalists

Financial Advisors

BRAI conducted its first sports day at the XLR8 indoor sports stadium on the 14th of April 2013. More than 114 realtors attended this event and made it a grand success. The presence and participation of the President, the Vice President, the IPP and all the Governing Board members was appreciated by all and made the day more eventful exciting. this was the first time I have seen so many realtors under one roof and not talk business !

  Competitions were held in two events - Cricket and Paint ball. The Cricket tournament was won by the team from Estates & properties, the runner up for the event was M/s Mint Realty. The Paint ball event was won by the team from /s Silverline Realty.

The Proper Price for Property

Today most investors are trying to find incredible deals and resell them for a profit. This is a great strategy when you execute correctly and buy at the right price, prepare it properly, price and market it correctly.

Today it is very important that you price the property at a saleable price from the first day you list it! This is because the property gets the most attention the first week it is on market. Very quickly it will lose the attention of prospective buyers and your traffic to that advertisement will fall. That means it will take you a longer time to sell the property and collect your profit!

More importantly, a listing gets the most attention on its debut. This fact was documented by a report that concluded - the week that a listing goes on the market, it is estimated that it gets nearly four times more visits on real estate websites than it does a month later.

How To SELL Quickly!

To sell your property quickly you must have the property fully prepared and properly priced on the day it is listed. It is NOT a good idea to price the house high then reduce the price later. If you do that you will lose a lot of your prospective buyers and the house will take longer to sell. Today buyers search the Internet to locate the properties they want to look at. They often have alerts set up that let them know when a new property is listed. The buyers then have a real estate agent show them the houses.

Business Card Marketing for Realtors

Business cards are the first impression one gets of you and they speak volumes about who you are, what services you offer and how serious you are at marketing your real estate firm as a business. The business card announces that you are serious and ready to help people solve their realty related problems. You can use business cards to increase your chances of creating more business opportunities.

Always carry your business cards! Your checklist should include business cards, as part of your "do I have my wallet/money, house keys, driver's license'" etc. Any meeting is an opportunity to give out a business card. It could be a morning run or a random errand to the local grocer. Use every opportunity to network by making it a habit to always carry business cards. Give out your card to everyone – whatever works!

Insert a business card when mailing bill payments. Bills these days contain advertisements so you should advertise your skills or services in the same way? As the movie, "6 Degrees of Separation" points out that we are only 6 people away from knowing someone of influence, you could be 6 people away from knowing the Prime Minister, your favorite movie star or better still someone who is in a position to hire your skills or services. Each of us knows someone, who knows someone (X6.6 on average), who we need to know...

Proper business card etiquette. Whenever you give a business card, ask for a business card. When given a business card, don't just take it and place it in your pocket. Make the person feel important by looking at their card for a few seconds. You might see something that could be a topic of discussion. Write comments on the card such as date, location and common points of interest. These comments will prove valuable when following up with that person. This also demonstrates a sincere interest in the other person. Then place it in your wallet. This lets them know they reside in a special place with you. Make people feel important, in order to make yourself important to them.

Be generous. Give business cards out to everyone, including family and friends. Hoarding your business cards only makes your wallet feel full, not your bank account.

Ask for referrals. When giving a business card, people feel more comfortable when you ask; "I would appreciate a referral, if you know anyone that could use my services". Give them 2 cards.

Maximize every chance meeting. You never know when you might meet someone who can help you. Small social events, like a birthday party your child is attending, could produce unexpected encounters with people you will want to network with. You never know who you might meet

The Right place at the Right time. Have you ever been to a club meeting to find out you were not really given an opportunity to pass out your cards. Volunteering for speaking and networking events for big name speakers has been a very successful resource to grow. If you help enough people get what they want in life, you will get what you want in life.

Basics Of Real Estate

As a new Realtor, we all had a fear of the unknown. We want to be successful but just need to know where to start or how to do a deal. So here is some basic real estate brokering information that are great for evaluating leads and landing real estate deals.

1) Location:

The location of the property will usually determine what techniques you can use. Here's what to look for:

• Ugly homes in need of repair.

• Properties in appreciating areas.

• Properties that have easy terms.

• Properties with seller financing.

• Properties located in high rental markets.

2) Real Estate Bargains:

No matter what technique you use, you want to find good bargains. The better the bargain, the more you profit. Real estate bargains are usually the result of highly motivated sellers.

3) Motivated Sellers:

Motivated sellers are sellers that are in situations they need help with. Usually their property is the problem. Motivated sellers make good real estate deals. Be sure to write down all real estate investing information about the home.

4) Information Gathering:

Gathering information will help you stay organized and give you the best possible analysis of a property. Be sure you have a Property Research Form, Property Inspection Sheet, and a worksheet. Other information you will need is Repair values, qualifying the seller, and financing. Use all necessary information that can help you with your buying decisions. You will profit when you buy and realize it when you sell.

5) Contracts:

Your contracts must be bullet proof. You should always consult your real estate attorney before using them. There are several factors to consider when using contracts. It is wise to work with the local Real Estate Association to obtain widely used and accepted forms.

6) Use other people’s money (OPM):

Whenever you can use someone else's money, you have tremendous leverage. The seller will still receive what you have agreed upon. Here are some ways to use other people’s money:

• Banks

• Other Investors

• Friends

• Subordination Technique

• Substitution Of Collateral Technique

7) Closing:

Free or Low Cost Web Tools

As a real estate broker or Realtor, you’re well aware of how dramatically the Internet is changing the way you live your life. You regularly go to sites for information, news, and entertainment, but here are some websites that will make your job easier and more profitable:

Elance.com – Do you have a website that needs updating, an article or eBook that needs to be written, or are you searching for the perfect virtual assistant to help you close more deals? If any of these apply to you, Elance is the ideal website for you. Membership is free; you simply post your project and select the bidder with the qualifications and proposal you like the best. Elance makes it possible for you to remotely get more done and their Escrow system lets you and your provider collaborate on your project to ensure your satisfaction, while easing the provider’s concerns that they’ll be paid at the end of the project. (www.elance.com)

Google Picasa – If you have dozens – or even hundreds – of photos taking up valuable space on your hard drive, you’re all too aware of how difficult it can be to organize photos of properties you own or might be interested in buying. Google’s free Picasa software application helps you to organize all the photos on your hard drive so you can locate the photo you need within seconds. (www.picasaweb.google.com)

Google Maps – Do you ever wish you knew the layout of a neighborhood without having to get into your car and battle traffic all the way across town? Google Maps puts this visual information onto your desktop so you can see the layout of a neighborhood or compare the proximity of a potential investment to points of interest, schools, shopping, etc. Little details like these can help you decide whether an investment is a bad idea, a good idea – or a great idea. (www.maps.google.com)

Microsoft OneNote – If you’re as organizationally challenged as a lot of investors, Microsoft OneNote may be just what the doctor ordered. It’s an electronic notebook, so you can organize properties you own in one notebook and create other notebooks – and pages – depending on your needs. You may decide to have a separate notebook for properties you’re considering acquiring. The beauty of OneNote is that you can keep all property details at your fingertips, from legal documents to scanned handwritten notes, photos – even audio files. If you have a fairly new computer, it’s probably already on your system if you use Microsoft office. If not, you can download a free 60 day trial version. (www.microsoft.com/onenote)

Ways to Profit from Every Meeting with a Seller

You can make a profit from the deals you find, even when the deals aren't fit for your real estate business. Here are five tips to make sure you get paid for your time.

1. Sign Up the Deal!

This is the most obvious way to profit from every appointment you make.

2. Turn Your "Junk" Into Gold

Take the people you meet who donot fit your business and refer them to people in your network who can profit by the referral. This builds value into your referral network.

3. Get Information on Local Market Conditions

Use the meeting to get information for the resale market and for the rental market. Find out:

What are rental and resale prices like?

How long are properties staying on the market?

What types of properties are most in demand and what types are least in demand?

What is the perceived market conditions according to the sellers?

4. Learn From the Appointment

This is the ultimate way to leverage yourself. What went well with the appointment? What will you do differently next time as a result of what you learned on this appointment? Make sure you take five minutes and debrief yourself in writing!

5. Future Deals

Ways to Build A Buyers/Sellers List

As real estate brokers or Realtors, we buy and sell property. We all need to build our buyers list and sellers list in order to do our work. It is important to have a pool of buyers ready to go when you want to sell a property.

Buyer's List:

Begin networking and asking each investor you meet, what kind of property they invest in. Make a spreadsheet with all of their contact information, what they were looking to buy and their price range and before you know it, your buyers list will begin to build.

Seller's List

You also need to be looking for prospective sellers all the time to build up your sellers list–which is where leads can primarily come in from. As a real estate broker without access to the MLS, you start with nothing - no names, no account base. You have to build from the ground up and this process certainly doesn’t stop.

While calling people out of the blue asking them if they want to sell or buy a house doesn't seem to make sense, there ARE ways to Build your Buyers and Sellers List:

1) Signs: Good ol' fashion "We Buy Houses" signs. In this day and age of online marketing, the keys to a successful sign campaign include the following factors:

Phone Number: Get an easy to remember phone number

Color: Maybe white background with a bright blue font

Sign Size: 18’ x 24’ is a good legible size

Location: putting them in places where traffic stops for a while as well as consistently posting signs at similar locations.

2) Landing Pages: It is worthwhile for a person to provide their name and email address as they will get a free report for example. It is defined as “a web page designed to compel the visitor to take one specific action upon the moment of landing on the page. The sole purpose is to convert the page visitor into a lead.”

3) Direct Mail: While direct mail is certainly more expensive and more work than sending emails, it is a method that generates a mild to moderate amount of leads. Mail physical letters to prospective sellers in order to grow your sellers lists. Focus on targeting only a few different audiences.

Signing of a Bi-lateral agreement between Thane Estate Agents Association (TEAA) and MCHI-CREDAI, Thane

How to Work with Realtors

Working with real estate agents can be a challenge if the agent you’ve selected isn’t aware of your needs in acquiring property. They’re accustomed to selling at retail and any deviation from what they consider normal can jeopardize what could otherwise be a great working relationship. The good news is that you have the power to provide the education – if you’re willing to take the time. Here’s how you can do your part. If you’re trying to work with a real estate agent that has never seen – much less worked with – a real estate investor, the first thing you need to do is have a sit-down meeting to explain your goals, your investing strategy, and your needs.

But don’t forget that your real estate agent also has needs. The good news is that today’s market conditions make this a good time to forge what could be a mutually satisfying long-term relationship. Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’re pretty well aware that retail buyers have disappeared. Because of this – and low prices – real estate investors are on a buying spree. You can work together and turn incredible profits with the help of a real estate agent that "gets it".

You may be an investor that typically avoids real estate agents whenever possible because you don’t want to deal with real estate commissions. A real estate agent is a known commodity to the friendly banker. Banks work closely with real estate agents on traditional purchases, so there’s an institutional bias that favours the real estate agent.

The bank is more likely to consider an offer that makes sense if it’s presented by someone who speaks their language. Here’s another thought to consider: If a good real estate agent can help grease the wheels and get your offer in front of a lender, you can get an answer more quickly, and potentially close more deals.

There can also be other perks to working with a real estate agent: research. Once you establish a solid working relationship, a real estate agent will be willing to share information with you that would take much longer for you to do yourself. Comps and other MLS data is available through a real estate agent; however, you don’t want to abuse the relationship.

Mistakes Every Realtor Makes

What sets truly successful Realtors apart from those who are only moderately successful or – worse – those who decide to give up on real estate altogether? Mistakes. However, all realtors are prone to mistakes. The key to moving forward is recognizing those mistakes & keep them to a minimum. Here are some of the most common mistakes – and how you can avoid them:

Treating real estate investing as an unusual hobby – Real estate brokerage is serious business. Fortunes can be made in real estate investing, so treat it seriously. Get a business card and distribute it. Be professional and take the steps necessary to prove that you’re serious about your success.

Thinking that your need for education ended with your first property purchase – Your need for an ongoing real estate investing education is as real as the needs for a family doctor or your children’s teachers for your child's ongoing education. It keeps you up-to-date on strategies and techniques that you otherwise might never hear about.

Thinking the Internet is a passing fad – For too many Realtors, being steeped in the “old” way of doing things is costing money, profits, and deals. 92% of all sellers begin the sales process online. If you don’t have a website, you’re severely restricting your options – and your cash flow. Don’t do this to your business.

Thinking real estate agents and brokers are for "uneducated investors" – A good real estate broker can be one of your best friends. The key is finding one who understands your investing strategy and what it is you’re trying to accomplish. Sure, real estate brokers charge commissions, but if the value of what you receive is greater than the cost, you’ll be money ahead – and it will be reflected in the value of your portfolio.

Being secretive about what you do for a living – Let everyone know that you’re a real estate investor. Everyone. From your accountant to your doctor, it’s critical that you let as many people as you can know that you’re actively seeking property. Most people either know someone or know of someone that you might be able to help out of an embarrassing and time-sensitive situation. Your status in your community will go up if you can help a friend or even a family member of someone in your sphere of influence. That can pay off dividends now and in the future, so Get the word out!

Hiding from the press – You may not think that what you have to say is noteworthy, but your local media may disagree. Newspapers and TV stations are always on the lookout for interview targets and sources for national news stories with a local spin. The press won’t come beating down your door – at first, but once you send a reporter an email explaining a real estate-related concept or principle – keeping in mind that it has to have a local spin, things will change. If you’re feeling particularly bold, issue a press release.

All about NAR-USA; the Parent Body

This article is about general information about the association of real-estate brokers. The National Association of Realtors (NAR), whose members are known as Realtors, is the largest trade association in North America, and is involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries across many countries. NAR also functions as a self-regulatory organization for real estate brokerage.

Overview

The National Association of Realtors membership is composed of residential and commercial real estate brokers, real estate salespeople, immovable property managers, appraisers, counselors, and others engaged in all aspects of the real estate industry. Members are pledged to a code of ethics which was adopted in 1913 and standards of practice, which includes duties to clients and customers, the public, and other Realtors.

Local associations are required to enforce the code of ethics through a Professional Standards Council or Committee. Trained members of the association form hearing panels charged with the responsibility of hearing testimony and evaluating evidence from complaints filed by the public or other members against association members for alleged violations of the code of ethics. If the panel finds the member in violation, disciplines recommended may be one or more of the following: a letter of warning or reprimand, educational courses, suspension or expulsion of membership, fines and probation. All recommended disciplines by professional standards hearing panels are subject to the ratification by the association's board of directors before the discipline takes effect.

Realtor is a frequently used word in many countries to describe any person or company involved in the real estate trade, regardless of their NAR statusNAR and Multiple Listing Service (MLS) systems

The NAR governs the hundreds of local Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) which are the information exchanges used across the nation by real estate brokers. Through a complicated arrangement, NAR sets the policies for most of the Multiple Listings Services, and in the late 1990s, with the growth of the Internet, NAR evolved regulations allowing Internet Data Exchanges (IDX) whereby brokers would allow a portion of their data to be seen on the Internet via brokers' or agents' websites and Virtual Office Websites (VOW) which required potential buyers to register to obtain information.

These policies allowed participants—whether they were individual one-person brokers or large regional companies—to limit access to some or all of the MLS data by individual brokers (whether they were brokers operating solely on the Internet or local competitors). Meanwhile various real estate trends such as expanded consumer access and the Internet are consolidating existing local MLS organizations into larger and more statewide or regional MLS systems.

In response, NAR had proposed setting up a single Internet Listing Display system which would not allow participants to exclude individual brokers (whether of a bricks-and-mortar type or solely internet-based) but require a blanket opting out of display on all other brokers' sites. This system became the IDX system. Although IDX allows the public to view MLS listings, it still requires the listing brokerage information to be placed on the listing every place it appears (brokers legally "own" the listings of their brokerage), to prevent misrepresentation of the listing information, and to place accountability for the information on the broker as the law dictates.

Real Estate Ethics

Most people think that real estate brokers and realtors are modern-day robbers who prey upon ignorant people, take advantage of their gullibility, and laugh all the way to the bank. The really sad thing is that there a few real estate brokers who actually think this of themselves. These misguided people think that in order to get ahead in their career, they must behave unethically. The truth is that, in the long run, it pays to be a scrupulous realtor; a thorough professional. Can one really expect referrals if taking advantage of people is a deafult modus operandi? Of course not. The truth is a genuine Realtor is a problem solver and not only will your business be much more successful, but you'll also be able to sleep peacefully at night.

Help People

In today's world, gullible buyers are hard to find as the Internet has made knowledge widely available, and the majority are more savvy than they're given credit for. Of course, buyers are still more likely to err on the side of overpricing a home than underpricing it. But do you as a real estate professional really want to make your living by taking advantage of people? Doing so will likely come back to haunt you so, you should really focus on your job to help them find the best possible deal.

Sometimes there are properties that people desperately want to sell, and they're willing to do so at a discount and with favourable terms. Perhaps the owners have been involved in a job transfer, or under financial distress. Don't think of yourself as taking advantage of the situation. Think of yourself as extending a helping hand. The sellers will be able to detect the difference in your attitude and will respond differently to you. And after all, they need to sell. It's hurting them each day that their home is on the market. If you come along and are able to negotiate mutually agreeable terms, then it is a win-win situation.

Solve their Problems

The surest path to real estate brokerage success is to focus on helping troubled people solve their problems. Many distressed sellers are embarrassed about their situation. So simply ask the following questions of anyone you find through a classified ad. Why are you selling? When do you need to sell by? What are your plans after you sell? What is the minimum amount of cash you need in your pocket as a result of this deal? What do you plan to do with the proceeds from the sale of your home? If we were to close within a week and I paid cash for the full purchase price, what's the best deal you could give me?

The point is not to act like an interrogator, but to start up a conversation. Truly desperate sellers will be anxious to talk to you. Keep the conversation moving and get all of the information you need. Casually ask the same question in different forms more than once to make sure their story remains consistent. Do your best to make them feel at ease.

Everyday is not Sunday

There's two requirements for every deal you do with a motivated seller:

1. Make money

2. Solve the seller's problem