Your Monopoly Coach

Hello,

Interested in a 70/30 split to start your commercial real estate with Keller Williams. Interested in 100% commissions for your hard work!!! Interested in profit sharing the market center (office) profits. Want continuing training???

Call me at 1-800-646-1929 and leave a message that includes your contact information and best time to call!!

Thanks

Dave Caplin

Hello,

I work with many lending institutions throughout the MSA of Atlanta on commercial REO's. Too many to mention, call me at 1-800-646-1929 and leave a message.

Visit my web site at www.caplininvestments.com

Thanks and have a great day

I am in my 1st read of this book, co-written by Gary Keller of Keller Williams Realty Internat'l. I attended a "shift" seminar given by one of the authors, Dave Jenks. The seminar was a "tour" of the book and was very enlightening and motivating. As I am reading, I am understanding that we all need to remember that it is still, leads, listings, and leverage. This was taught to us in the 1st book Gary wrote (Millionaire Real Estate Agent). Now we need to add "to be on purpose" to make sure we manage our time, and "get in the path of business"

I challenge the real estate agents and investors to read this book at least once, but for the full effect, read it 7 times

Until next time, best to all and good selling

Need help weathering the storm in today's real estate market? If so, reach for Gary Keller's new book, "Shift" -- it's the lifesaver you need today to thrive tomorrow.

Market shifts happen. We have seasonal market shifts as well as major market shifts. Along with co-authors Dave Jenks and Jay Papasan, Gary Keller outlines the 12 proven tactics that successful agents are using to navigate today's "shifted" market.

1. Mindset and action
Keller argues that you can't control the market, but you can control how you respond. "Growth comes from clarity, priorities and action." To prosper, you must have clear, written goals as well as an action plan for implementing those goals. You must also proactively prospect and market for leads and then convert them into closed business.

2. Re-margin your business -- expense management
"The number one determinant of thriving is lead generation, but the number one determinant of surviving is expense management." When the market shifts, you must create a new budget that matches your revenue. If you are not already tracking your profitability, begin by slashing expenses until each dollar that you spend returns its original amount plus a reasonable profit. Evaluate every single business expense -- and if it doesn't make money, eliminate it!

3. Do more with less -- leverage
Keller says that "up markets conceal, tough markets reveal." This is a time to upgrade both your people and your systems. His recommendation is to think "assistance first, assistants second." In other words, hire based upon tasks. Identify what you do well and focus on that. Outsource other activities that can be handled more cheaply and competently by someone else.

4. Find the motivated
Lead generation will make or break your business in a shifted market. List each of your closed transactions as well as the activity responsible for generating the lead. Next, determine the number of closed transactions resulting from each activity and rank them. Identify the top 50 percent and put all your time, effort and financial resources into these activities. Drop the rest. To maximize results, do more prospecting (making contact with people) rather than marketing (people contacting you). Include a "call to action" in every marketing piece. Remember, dealing with business never takes precedence over finding business.

5. Lead conversion
When you first talk to a lead, ask for contact information up front. Since the majority of clients interview only one agent, your goal is to convert the appointment into signed business. To do this, build connection by asking key questions about who your leads are, what they need or want, what's motivating them, how soon they need it, and what plans they have. Master your scripts and dialogues so you can easily overcome any objections.

6. Catch people in your Web
Ida Terbert of Keller Williams Raleigh says, "We make our Web sites come alive with great content and reasons to register with us." Keller's research suggests that every 700 visitors should yield one buyer appointment and one seller appointment. Another agent said, "You need thin bait and fat bait. Thin bait gets the visitor to your site -- fat bait gets them to register." "Thin bait" is your marketing. "Fat bait" includes offers or other services that motivates Web visitors to give their contact information.

7. Price ahead of the market
In a market where prices are declining, tell your sellers, "We're in a race against time. The best price you will get is the one you get now. If you wait, the price will just be lower." Turn down unrealistic sellers and encourage sellers to take the first offer they receive. Waiting can and will cost them money.

8. Seller staging strategies
To sell in a shifted market, staging is critical. "Staged homes, on average, sold in half the time that nonstaged homes did and ended up with 6.3 percent more than their asking price on average." To persuade sellers, take pictures of cluttered closets and rooms before and after staging. Then ask which ones capture their attention. In terms of how to stage, use the 3P-2F Formula: plantings, paint, pictures, fixtures and furnishings.

9. Overcome buyer reluctance
"The biggest myth of shift" is that you can time the market. Rather than trying to time the market, Keller suggests that you ask buyers, "Has the market dropped enough now to make a sensible purchase?" When you work with buyers, you must assess whether they are able to buy (i.e., get a mortgage); whether they are sufficiently motivated to buy now; and whether they have a sense of urgency. If they don't meet these criteria, keep searching for buyers who do.

10. Creative financing
Keller outlines 25 creative areas of financing including things sellers can do to sell their house, what buyers can do, as well as what the lender can do. Among these are lease-options, lease-purchases, employer-assisted mortgages, special government grants and bond programs. Two reputable resources for providing funds to buyers for down payments are the Nehemiah Corp. and AmeriDream.

11. Master short sales, foreclosures and REOs
"Shift" provides a detailed discussion of what is needed to close difficult transactions as well as pitfalls to avoid.

12. Bulletproof the transaction
Keller outlines six areas where transactions can go wrong: inspections and repairs; appraisals; loan approval and funding; other contingencies; the cooperating agent; and deadlines. Avoid difficulties by focusing on what can go wrong at each step and take proactive steps to avoid it.

"Shift" is rich in easy-to-understand strategies, charts, and illustrations that show you exactly what you need to do to thrive in today's very challenging and "shifted" real estate market.

There is a three-track story unfolding today: the U.S. economy, the ex-U.S. global economy, and The Crunch. To maintain clarity and composure, keep 'em separate!

The domestic economy is weakening. New claims for unemployment insurance spiked last week to 448,000, and all hands expected some pullback. Instead, 455,000 this week -- the worst in six years. The collapse in auto sales to the annual range of 12 million (from the 15.5 million forecast) has been a recent, June-July event. However, modern "just-in-time" delivery of components means instantaneous negative feedback all the way back through the supply chain to labor and raw materials. Credit-default measures and bond prices indicate imminent bankruptcy by all of the used-to-be Big Three.

Housing shows no bottom, and without one soon and tentative recovery, credit losses will be unbearable. The best marker of U.S. condition: the Fed's post-meeting statement abandoned its June observation that "downside risks have diminished," and despite its new recitation of inflation risks made clear there is no intention to raise its rate.

The global scene is changing very rapidly, all for the good here and bad elsewhere.

In this past year, a tribe of economic astrologers have claimed that a weak dollar was the cause of high oil and all other U.S. woes, and if only the Fed would tighten all would be well. This alternate universe collapsed in today's trading.

The dollar was weak because our Fed properly eased into the crunch (interest rate differential is a prime driver, and European Central Bank rates have been double our Fed's), and because of our immense trade deficit. This week marks the beginning of dollar reversal and reversal of a lot of other things.

The Euro-zone sag to recession means the ECB is done with rate hikes. It may take well into 2009 for 4.1 percent Euro inflation to break, and the ECB to ease, but that event is no longer a theory but visible on the horizon. German bond yields are in free-fall in anticipation. As the Euro-zone tanks along with us, so do markets for Asian exports, and weakness there is daily more plain and will further undercut commodities.

The consequences of these shifts are profound in today's markets. Oil has dropped to $116, natural gas to $8.39, and gold all the way to $858. The dollar is rising fast (certainly not because of some imaginary Fed defense): the euro barely holding $1.50, ditto sterling at $1.90 and yen at 110 to the U.S. dollar. Europe is inheriting our currency problem: the anti-inflationary benefit from lower energy prices will be delayed by falling euro value.

Then there's the crunch. Credit scarcity as measured by spreads to Treasurys now affects all borrowing. The notion that the crunch is confined to mortgages and structured securities stands exposed as urban legend: top-quality municipal and corporate borrowers are suffering. Consumers show signs of last-ditch credit-card defense: consumer credit outstanding jumped $14 billion in June, with borrowers unable to pay down month-end balances and having nowhere else to turn for a loan.

The best model for the crunch dates to January with Jan Hatzius (Goldman Sachs) and the Bank Credit Analyst with the same insight: capital shortage means insufficient credit. Here's the equation: system write-offs in the last year total about $500 billion, and only $350 billion in new capital has been raised. That $150-billion shortage, by the miracle of 12-to-1 bank leverage (and 25-to-1 broker-dealer and hedge-fund leverage) leads to a credit shortfall of at least $2 trillion. This shortage shows up as price-rationing: if you want to borrow, you have to pay a hefty spread over Treasurys or do without.

Losses yet unrecognized are at least double the ones taken, and market capital is almost unobtainable. Despite the excellent news on the dollar, energy, commodity, and inflation front, "The Crunch" is the dominant force, and worsening. That's why the Dow is still lurching around in the 11,000s instead of rocketing on that good news.