Avoid These 5 listing Presentation Pitfalls

Smooth selling

Even the most seasoned practitioners can make some common mistakes during a listing presentation. Here’s what to avoid so you make the best impression.

BY JOHN D. MAYFIELD

Every listing presentation is a job interview. You are applying with the sellers for the opportunity to sell their home. And you need to convince them that you are the best real estate professional for the job.

I’m sure you have your standard listing presentation down by the time you do it a few times. You tell them about your company, yourself and your background, and everything you’re going to do to market the home and get it sold. If you’ve done the comparative market analysis (CMA), you share what it shows and your recommendation for a list price.

Although this is all well and good, what differentiates a good listing presentation from a great listing presentation — and what increases your chances of getting the listing — is your ability to tailor your standard listing presentation in real time based on the reactions and personalities of the prospective clients sitting in front of you.

Here are five common mistakes to avoid during a listing presentation so that you can get the job you’re applying for.

1. Failing to recognize personality traits.

Many real estate professionals don’t take into account the different personality traits of prospects when meeting with them. The two major personality types you should be watching out for are whether the prospects are analytical types or touchy-feely types.

All prospects may not fall cleanly into one category or the other, but getting a feel early on in the meeting about which type of person you’re dealing with will help you to determine just how detailed you should be in your presentation.

If you know ahead of time that you’re meeting with a stock broker, financial analyst, or management consultant, you probably should bring lots of market data with you and plan on spending a lot of time going over the data.

However, if the prospective sellers don’t seem to be very interested in the market data (or you start getting cues from the sellers that they are looking for someone they can “trust” and “feel comfortable with”), then you need to put the numbers aside and start talking to them about how you work and how you will make sure that everything moves forward smoothly in the transaction.

One way to identify a person’s personality type: Pay close attention to the questions they ask.

Generally, an analytical person will be specific about questions and concerns they have. For example, they may ask about the length of your listing contract, the commission breakdown, allocation of your marketing budget, and what types of marketing you do.

When you begin to notice that a prospect is asking a lot of detailed-oriented questions, you need to make sure your presentation covers those details.

Does this mean that you shouldn’t include the same information for a person who is not as detailed oriented? Obviously, you want to provide the same information with all of your clients. However, you wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time going over specifics and details with prospects who are not analytical types.

By correctly identifying the personality type of the potential client, you will begin to understand how your presentation should take form and to what detail and depth it should go.

2. Not using quality presentation materials.

Put yourself to the test: Think of your presentation as a major report you must turn in for a class. Tell yourself that this report will count for the biggest part of your grade during the class semester.
When you take this type of attitude to proof, study, prepare, and finalize your presentation materials, you’ll be on your way to a winning presentation every time.

Fortunately today, many good resources are available through local MLS systems, software vendors, and REALTOR® magazine online to help you build a professional listing presentations.

Always use a good laser printer, quality paper, and color photographs for your presentation materials. This will render a winning presentation every time!

3. Not employing good listening skills.

Author Dale Carnegie once said that we can win more friends in two weeks by showing we have a genuine interest in them than we can in two years by trying to get them to be interested in us.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Am I taking good notes during my initial presentation meeting?
• Will I know this person better after I get back to the office?
• Am I asking questions to determine the prospective sellers’ needs, motivations, wants, and desires?
• Am I able to determine their personality style based on the information they give me?

All of these questions can help you learn more about your potential clients while also demonstrating your concern and willingness to help them with their real estate needs.

Remember, it’s about them, not you! Whether you know it or not, people can tell when you care about them and their needs. Listening is an excellent way to build rapport and favor among clients and customers.

4. Believing that one size fits all.

With today’s technology, real estate professionals have never had it so good when it comes to presentations. Unfortunately, many real estate professionals tend to develop one stand-alone presentation that they use for all of their appointments.

In reality, one size does not fit all.

Prospective sellers, types of properties, and other factors determine what type of presentation you should give and what information should be contained in the presentations.

For example, a buyer’s presentation for “first-time” homebuyers will need to cover different information than, say, a presentation to relocation buyers. A listing presentation for a primary residence should be different than a presentation for a second home or investment property.

Developing a wide variety of presentations that you might give on a regular basis is a must. Save your presentations on your computer, where you can easily pull up, edit, and personalize to meet the specific needs of the potential client you’re meeting with.

5. Not following through.

After you develop and tailor your presentations, your work doesn’t stop there. You have to now use that presentation. I see a lot of practitioners put together great information but when the time comes for that face-to-face meeting with prospective clients, they don’t use the presentation they spent so much time putting together.

Whether it’s the fear of intimidation, too much time required to boot up their computer, or the attitude of “I can do it without a structured presentation,” some real estate professionals throw out their hard work and just try to “wing it.”

The truth of the matter is that most prospects don’t mind a presentation. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Showing a printed report on what has transpired in your marketplace is more persuasive than you verbally trying to convince the consumer that homes have not sold in their subdivision. A good written report is always well received.

So, Just Go for It!

In a listing presentation, it’s more important to let your prospective clients lead the discussion about what their needs are and then, matching their personality styles and their need for details, and try to convince them that you’re the best person for the job.

Keep in mind these listing pitfalls, and then go after that next listing — more prepared than ever.

The world of short sales

Short on Sales Doesn’t Equal Going After Short Sales

by Marylyn Schwartz

Ever hear the expression, “There are no free lunches?” Well, there is little, if anything, free today, especially a fast way to make money in real estate. For the time being, the days of slapping a sign in the ground and voila you have three offers are a fond memory. In many markets, the sign in the ground has a better chance of sprouting roots and growing into a tree than it does generating a ready, willing and able buyer quickly.

So, what are the agents thinking relative to an effective way to level the playing field? Why don’t we go after short sales? Oh, how wrong that will be for most. If finding qualified buyers and motivated sellers is challenging, wait till you see what really challenging looks like … enter the pre-foreclosure market.

Short sales are sales in which the outstanding mortgage balance(s) is more than the market value able to be realized were the home to be sold. Owners find themselves in this predicament when they over leveraged the home relative to its value. Lots of folks took loans with interest rates that, when they recalculated, caused the owners to be unable to pay the higher monthly payment. In many cases, when the owners went to refinance the home, they found that the equity to do so was not in the home. Sellers could not make the margins work relative to loan amount to property value ratio. A great many homes declined in value for all the reasons we all know too well. We can play the blame game till the end of days. However, it is far more productive to devote energy to what we can do to move forward.

To say that banks are being cautious when making loans is an understatement. For a bank to accept a short sale from a mortgagee, they are going to do diligent research to ensure that the seller cannot pay the loan and has not a “farthing’s” worth of resources that they can offer to the bank to lessen the short sale. If that seller has a savings account, 401K, stocks, bonds, a co-signer, etc. the bank will vigorously pursue the asset(s) to bridge the amount owed with the amount realized by the short sale.

The paperwork required to justify the bank’s willingness to negotiate a short sale will take the better part of a 16-hour day to complete. Frankly, many sellers needed weeks to complete the bank’s process. In today’s environment where many properties are going into foreclosure, banks would rather find a real buyer and sell the home rather than taking it into inventory. An REO (real estate owned) property costs a bank between 30-60 percent of the outstanding mortgage balance to take that property through the foreclosure process and then to sell it as a bank asset.

The agent who decides to assist sellers with this process had better know all the ins and outs before embarking on the journey. You’ll need to be familiar with the typical bank paperwork, who to contact within the bank to bring a short sale to the forefront (hint: the person calling the seller about their late payments could care less about negotiating a short sale … neither does the mortgage side of the bank.) Finding out who handles asset recovery properties, or as they are often called REOs, are the people who, in most instances, do not want to “buy” the home back through a foreclosure.

Advising a seller as to the best process for handling a short sale is rife with responsibility, not to mention liability. There are many attorneys who specialize in the process and may be the best choice for an uneducated seller and/or agent. The sellers may wonder how they would pay the attorney. However, the attorney will attempt to negotiate his/her fee with the bank as part of the short sale amount. Likewise, the agent’s marketing service fee can be rolled into that short sale amount.

Once the sellers are able to demonstrate to the bank that they are unable to pay the loan, the bank will most likely consider a short sale. If the agent finds a buyer to present to the bank, that buyer had better be golden in every way. They will need to:

• Have an outstanding FICO score
• Have irrefutable documentation that they are ready, willing and able to close
• Remove contingencies if the bank wants to sell as is, and that is common
• Have a signed offer in hand to present to the bank

It is incumbent upon the agent to provide the bank with compelling proof of the value of the home. Offers that do not match up with the real value of the property are a waste of time for all concerned and will do nothing to endear the agent with the bank. The bank is not interested in dealing with an agent that they perceive to be marginal, possessing limited skills/understanding of market values.

It might be worth noting that the larger bank’s asset recovery personnel may want a resume from any agent with whom they do business. They’ll want to know if the agent has a working understanding of the ins and outs of pre and foreclosure processes. With the amount of work at the doorsteps of the larger banks relative to mortgage holders in trouble, the banks have neither the personnel nor the inclination to “educate” agents on how to work with them to close a sale, or for that matter, handle a property in the bank’s inventory. They look for people who understand the bank’s requirements (most are quite similar) and get the job done.

With all the additional education needed to get up to speed on how to handle short sales and other pre-foreclosures through to foreclosure properties, it makes no sense that an agent who is not profitable should take his/her eyes off generating business through readily available channels: FSBOs, expireds, target marketing, SOI, door knocking, etc. Trying to get ready to get ready to feed, clothe and house one’s family through some kind of nirvana shortcut is back to believing there are free lunches, the Easter Bunny brings the colored eggs and the guy with the white beard is coming with that Lexus … .

If an agent is thriving and wants to broaden his/her knowledge of the industry by learning another segment or specialty, then that’s a good thing. However, diverting from what needs to be done today, i.e. generating revenue quickly, to learn a complicated, risk-filled new business, will ensure failure. The lifeblood of a successful real estate agent is referrals, prospecting and salable listings. Everything else is gravy. You’re not ready for the gravy if there is nothing to ladle it on!

Published: October 30, 2007

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

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Marylyn B. Schwartz, CSP, is a noted expert in real estate and corporate sales training, team development, customer care and diversity issues. She is president of TEAMWEAVERS and was a trainer for the Floyd Wickman Courses©, Sweathogs® program for over five years.Marylyn is also an author and Business/Life Coach. Contact her at teamweaver@aol.com, or visit her website at MarylynBSchwartz.com.

Luxury Homes Market Booms On

Check out this cool article I found in Realtytimes.com  Let’s not forget the orlando market, it’s a great time to buy! 

Second Homes: Luxury Housing Booms On

by Broderick Perkins

If you’ve forgotten what a housing boom looks like, check out the luxury home market.

The luxury home market includes the vacation home getaways of the rich and famous and continues, for the most part, to enjoy record-level sales and prices in many locations.

That’s according to a survey by high-end real estate brokerage Christie’s Great Estates.

Listing-Beverly Hills Villa:

Whether it’s a $50 million, 30,000-square-foot, Italian villa in Beverly Hills or the $70 million Penthouse at The Pierre, with a 360-degree view of Manhattan, high-end homes are hot.

Christie’s says the same desires that drive demand for fine art also put luxury homes on a pedestal. The emotional rush that comes with heightened visual appeal is simply priceless. Toss in a stellar location and luxury homes are the stuff of dreams.

In the fourth quarter 2007 survey of its regional markets Christies found:

• Manhattan apartments achieved a record average price of more than $1.4 million for a 34 percent gain over the same period the previous year.
• Single-family luxury homes in Palm Beach, FL rose in price by nearly 16 percent to $5.3 million.

And in California’s Beverly Hills, properties that sell for $10 million or more are selling for more than they would a year ago, according to Jeffery Hyland of the Hilton & Hyland in Beverly Hills.

Hyland said that’s because there’s lots of cash, but too few luxury homes.

But all is not well in Tinsel Town.

Some celebrities are having problems unloading multi-million dollar estates.

Young Canadian rocker Avril Lavigne; former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash (Saul Hudson), Johnny Carson sidekick Ed McMahon and Vidal Sassoon all have or had homes on the hard-to-sell list.

The toughest sell has been one of the nation’s most expensive residential listings, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Bandar’s 56,000 square foot, 96 acre Hala Ranch in Aspen, CO. Listed for a cool $135 million, it’s been on the market for a year.

The New York Times recently featured the sprawling estate in a recent story.

Published: February 28, 2008

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