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Powerful Pre Listing Appointment Questionnaire

Wade Webb on February 28, 2018

We are now coming into the time of year where we all really want to build our listing inventory up for when our spring markets begin to hit. One of the simplest and most powerful strategies I use to eliminate my competition and to get the inside track on a listing appointment is to use a pre listing appointment questionnaire. This simple strategy is a fantastic way to impress the prospective seller by connecting with them in advance of our appointment. By confirming the appointment date and time it shows them we were really on the ball with our service as an agent, sets us apart from competitors and helps us create a superior experience for them even before we take their listing.

Now the other secret I used was my executive assistants, not myself would make these pre listing appointment calls and then ask the sellers the question “While we have you on the phone would you mind just answering a few questions that would help us serve you better and enhance our marketing plan for your home?” They would almost every time freely share four pages of information about their property, finances, situation, timing, motivation and more to my assistants even they would not be as comfortable if it were me asking the same questions. Imagine if you had pages of intel on the seller, their property, their finances before you even arrived to the listing appointment? What would that mean to you? Here are some of my favorite questions that really help my business and my listing effectiveness.

1.) How did you hear about me? Love this question for two golden reasons. A) The ability to track and measure my business. What is working? B) If it’s because of a referral then I get to reward that behavior and the referrer.

2.) Why do you want to sell? If we answer all your questions to your satisfaction will you list your property when we meet with you? These are the most important questions in determining their motivation. What are they running from or running to? No pain or no gain then no listing for Wade and no testing the market.

3.) Who else are you interviewing? When are you meeting with them? This is so good to be able to jump on to the MLS data and research the numbers and performance of the agents I am competing with and also prepare our value proposition of the brokerage vs. their brokerage in the listing appointment. Also decide if you’re going first or taking the chance to go last?

4.) Who will be present at the appointment? Always want to remind them of the importance for meeting with all parties on title but also all other decision makers.

5.) How much is owing on the property? Always helpful to know where they sit financially.

6.) What price do you want to ask for your property? Amazes me how many will freely share with my assistant who is not the agent what they want for their home.

7.) What criteria will you use in hiring an agent? Nothing better than knowing what they expect, want and need in an agent.

8.) May we ask you to wait to make a decision before you meet with us? Always protect yourself from other exceptional agents taking the listing before you do.

9.) Tell me the highlights about your property? Let them tell you their property story and share with you about the pride in their home.

10.) We will be delivering or have already delivered our informed home seller pre appointment package and can we ask you to review this prior to our meeting? This is a powerful way to win the listing before even seeing them but also helps make the listing appointment time that much shorter if they have reviewed it all.

So there you have a sampling of a pre listing appointment questionnaire and a better understanding of its effectiveness. Every time my executive assistants completed these in great detail for me and I went to the appointment and successfully won the listing I would place a crisp $100 bill on their desk as a bonus for their exceptional work. Funny how they were always filled out with so much information every time!! I hope this strategy is something you will use to really take your listings in 2018 to another level and crush it!

Click here to download the full 4 page pre listing appointment questionnaire.

Strength and courage,
Wade

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The Top Reasons Why You Should Buy & Sell Over The Winter 2018

Wade Webb on December 6, 2017

Knowing what the biggest objection you face over the next few months allows you the edge to be prepared when it strikes. We all know the #1 objection all agents are going to get from real estate buyers and sellers is “We want to wait until the spring.” So having the ability to change how the buyer and seller feels about waiting to buy or sell until the spring is imperative to your winter real estate success!!

Don’t try changing their minds and building their defense mechanism up but educate them and change how they think and then they change how they feel about buying over the winter instead of spring. The fact of the matter is, the reasons and myths are endless so it’s our job as REALTORS® to be equipped with facts and a strong reality check to combat these reasons we hear every day. To help you educate the consumers through the winter season I put together some of my top reasons a client would want to choose this time of year to buy, sell and list a home.

Top Reasons to Sell Real Estate Over The Winter

#1 – Only The Serious Buyers Are Looking Over The Winter
• Yes there are fewer buyers, but those buyers are usually very SERIOUS about making a purchase or many HAVE to make a purchase. Who else would want to look at buying during the winter?

#2 – Fewer Winter Listings Means Less Listing Competition
• Most sellers wait until the spring or summer to list, so your home will have far less competition
• Spring = Greater supply = Same Demand = Less Money

#3 – January Is The Biggest Corporate Transfer Month
• More corporate relocation moves happen during January than any other time of the year.
• Catch the corporate relocation buyers while you can.

#4 – Better Personal Prompt Customer Service
• By putting the home on the market during the winter you experience better, personal and faster customer service from movers, lawyers, banks, insurance providers etc. Listing realtors have more time to better serve their sellers and get all the marketing strategies in place.

#5 – More Bargaining Time to Get More Money
• By starting to market your home early, you may be able to secure a higher price with more listing exposure time. This season allows a seller to not be in a rush to sell and allow for more market exposure time and ultimately generate a higher price than in the spring.

#6 – Timing Is Everything. So Sell Now & Buy In The Spring
• If your home sells quickly, you will be able to shop for your next home during the winter, a great time to find a bargain!
• More time to look and not pressure to shop and beat the other buyers. Sell first and then buy in the spring when the inventory and selection begins to rise for you when you are the buyer.

#7 – Standing Out In A Smaller Crowd
• Most REALTORS® and offices have less inventory during the winter, enabling your home to stand out even more.
• Less marketing noise out there for the buyers and they see your home with ease now.

#8 – 20% Of Sales Still Happen During the Winter
• Buyers and Sellers are usually quite motivated to get the transaction completed. We still have 20% of the business in the year occurring during the winter.
• This can mean less price haggling and fewer hassles during the process.

#9 – Buying Without Having Something To Sell First
• By selling now you may have an opportunity to be a non-contingent buyer during the spring, when more houses are on the market!
• Less “subject to the sale” offers from buyers and you are not one of them when you are buying your next home.

#10 – No Yard Work When It’s Freshly Covered In Snow
• Great time for a home that needs a yard make over to sell.
• No need to worry about your yard work. Snow makes it look fresh and white.

BONUS…..

#11 – Buyers Time Everything Too
• Buyers begin the search and purchase for spring moves in January, February.
• Busy move times are March Spring Break, April Easter, May long weekend and July long weekends

#13 – No Pricing Wars With Others Sellers
• Less choice for buyers means less sellers to play pricing against each other
• Buyers will often make more concession in their buying decision with less choice

#14 – A Holiday Magic Feel To Your Home
• Property shows well, almost staged with holiday décor adding to the ambiance
• Tis the season for your home to shine!

#15 – Higher Quality No Looky Loo Showings
• Little chance of quick showings and not being prepared to show your home
• Easier time of year to make appointments and give sellers advance notice.
• Higher quality showings

#16 – Right Buyer, Right Time Odds
• The odds are the same for the right buyer looking at your home regardless of the season.
• Right buyer, right time, right home

My Top 10 Reasons to Buy Over The Winter

#1 – Fewer Or No Multiple Offers
• Little or no chance of multiple or competing offers for the buyer during this time of year

#2 – Better Personal Prompt Customer Service
• Better service from all service providers like the agents, banks, insurers etc. Not as busy now.

#3 – Sellers Are Motivated
• Sellers motivated at this time of year if still trying to sell from summer or fall.
· Sellers willing to negotiate, been on the market for some time now. Give and take.

#4 – Expired Listing Inventory
• Buyers can shop the expired listings market, which has the largest selection this time of the year.

#5 – Better Closing Options
• Good time of year to make an offer and do the due diligence, buyers can move quickly now or slower in the spring if not in a rush.

#6 – More Alternative Housing Options
• Easier for sellers to find alternative housing, not as much pressure finding a rental vs. the really busy spring and summer season.

#7 – Contingencies and Subject to the Sale Of Acceptable
• Great time for buyers to make contingent “Subject to the Sale” offers and get them accepted and movement on the price.

#8 – Better Available Moving & Service Providers
• Easier time for a buyer to move and find help and services like movers, cleaners, storage.

#9 – Smoother Mistake Free Completions
• Better timing for buyers on completions with lawyers, banks land registry. Not that busy and time to attend to you now.

#10 – Buyer Competition Lower
• Less competition for the same property from other buyers on the deals that pop up this time of year.

Bonus

#11 – Having More Time

Having time to make a decision and not be pressured in to offers or pressured into removing conditions or speeding up your due diligence time.

Now that you’re equipped with ammo to overcome any objection, educate the consumers and debunk the myths and go out there and list and sell some real estate this winter season!!

Strength and courage,
Wade

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An Agents Most Precious Commodity

kelowna on July 26, 2017

Once, a king and a lazy man named Haria were very good friends. One morning, the king said,
“Why don’t you do work to earn some money?” Haria said, “No one gives me job. My enemies told everyone that I never do any work in time.” The kind king said, “You can go into my treasury and collect as much wealth as you can, till sunset.” Haria rushed home to tell this to his wife. She said, “Go and get the gold coins and gems now.” “I cannot go now. Give me lunch first.” After lunch, he took a nap for an hour. Then in the late afternoon, he picked some bags and went to the palace. On the way, he felt hot so he sat under a tree to rest. Then, two hours later, he got up to go but saw a man showing some magic tricks. He stopped to watch for an hour again. When he reached the palace it was already time for sunset. The palace gates had been shut. So Haria had lost a golden chance because he had not learnt the value of time.

I see and hear so many real estate agents who are putting in long hours and long days but don’t seem to be reaping the benefits of their labor. How many of you are maximizing your time each day? Are you truly using each and every second to its fullest potential? Time is precious and the truth is we don’t have much of it.

Are You Wasting Time?

Most people in this economy are wasting time. But what happens when the market takes a turn? It’s not a matter of “if”, but “when”, because it always does. Will you be the one with all of the money? If you don’t start the working immediately in the real estate market we know that somebody else will.

4 popular agent workplace time-wasters, and tips to reign them in.

1. Interruptions. One study says people can waste up to two hours per day of productivity based on interruptions. One reason for this is it can take around 20 minutes to get back into a work groove after your flow is interrupted. Of course, sometimes distractions are welcome (admit it!)—whether it’s a team member asking for your input, to talking about a TV show. And while interruptions will happen, the trick is minimizing them so they don’t kill your work productivity. Tip: Put your head down for set periods of time—25, 50 or 75 minutes—whatever is a realistic stretch of time to accomplish a task. If you’re in an office, close your door. If you’re in an open space, wear headphones, or set up some kind of “Do Not Disturb” signage around your desk area. Other common tricks are to turn off email and instant messaging; close all the browsers, apps and docs you’re not using. Also, don’t think you have to drop everything when a co-worker asks for something. Try lines like, “Set up some time for us and I can give you my full attention” to a simple “Can you give me a minute, I’m in the middle of something.” This might change some of your team members’ interrupting habits as well.

2. Socializing with co-workers. This is a double-edged sword, as stated by different studies. The Salary.com survey says 43% of their respondents blamed interacting with coworkers as the main reason they missed doing work. However, there’s an upside to this social interaction. Other studies have found coffee room chats and serendipitous conversations can increase productivity through the exchange of information, ideas and problem solving strategies, and the quick emotional boost that comes with making meaningful connections. Tip: Think about socializing as you would managing a project. If you find yourself in an unplanned conversation, give yourself ten minutes to talk rather than letting the conversation go on too long. Sometimes, you just have to exercise discipline and walk away from a group conversation. Or, consolidate your social interactions.

3. Unclear priorities. It happens too often: Individuals find themselves working on tasks they discover aren’t the highest priority. When agents are disorganized—either because of poor communication or no prioritization. Tip: If you’re not sure what you should be working on, ask. Ask yourself if you are confident the activity you are working on is what matters most to the business today. Always remind yourself of the high dollar productive activities in real estate always get done first!

4. The Internet, social media and personal emails. There are a few dynamics going on here: Dropping in on Facebook and other social media during the day is the new water cooler break. Let’s be honest, we all check out something on the Internet that isn’t work related—from news articles to shopping. Do we even need to explain email? We have a personal life, folks! Tip: Instead of nickel-and-diming your time by browsing the Internet, checking your social media sites and responding to personal emails, set aside a designated time, say 10-15 minutes twice a day for these activities. You’ll save time from all the restart time that goes along with frequent quick interruptions (see No. 1). Plus, it’s a good discipline practice to increase your focus and overall productivity.

What’s your favorite or most plaguing time waster—and what do you do about it?

Tell us in Comments!

Strength and courage,
Wade

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The Fine Art Of Doing Nothing ( On Purpose )

kelowna on May 17, 2017

Friday night I popped a bowl of popcorn and poured myself an ice cold diet coke, turned on Netflix and sunk into my favorite black chair in the living room. It was bliss. My day started at 6:00AM with my morning routine, followed by a coaching client at 7AM, meetings, calls, emails, training at the gym with my trainer, groceries, dinner. Then finished with my oldest daughter calling to say she is moving out on her own and could she get some financial help. Back at the home front, doing nothing was looking pretty good. In our world of pop-up notifications, 24/7 Facebook “news” feed, and To-Do list apps that help you organize all the tasks you’re going to procrastinate about, it’s time to enjoy doing… nothing. First, the why.

WHY YOU NEED TO DO NOTHING

We live in a Fitbit, To-Do, pack-it-in, life-is-short, ROI world. And it’s not how we were designed. Sure, we all value initiative, hard work and results – pillars of modern society. But, here’s the rub: Being busy, always working, and struggling to achieve more will inevitably back-fire. I know – I’ve been there. When I launched my coaching programs three years ago it felt like I’d taken on a mountain of work ON TOP of the mountain I already had. Yes, I wanted to get coaching off the ground. The problem is I hadn’t changed my behavior or taken anything off my plate. I was running with the errant thought “I’ll just find a way to make it happen.”

Within weeks I was sloughing through 12 hour days and feeling like I was back in the real estate sales, cranking out back-to-back listings and sales and living on drive-through meals and coffee. The only difference was I was 25 years older, didn’t drink coffee and only frequented drive-throughs in moments of weakness. What I needed was down time—an appreciation for doing nothing. I was ignoring the warning bells telling me a break from my knee-jerk workaholic disease would be good medicine and not a waste of time. Sometimes, doing nothing is the best medicine. It helped me to understand we are designed to hunt and hibernate.

WHY DOING NOTHING IS REALLY DOING SOMETHING

We are designed to hunt and hibernate. Work hard, overcome resistance, make stuff happen and then… rest. It’s the cycle all athletes build their performance on. You should as well. When you’re in hunt mode, your brain fires off the hormone Cortisol (along with Adrenaline) to get bursts of energy, reduce sensitivity to pain – even improve your memory. And then you need to chill. Prolonged periods of stress, keeps Cortisol levels up and can lead to decreased cognitive performance, higher blood pressure, decreased bone density, increased fat and hair loss (I added that one)…need I go on? So, while hunting is good, hibernating is even better. When you put the two together you have a perfect duo for long-term productivity and a healthy life.

ENTER THE RELAXATION RESPONSE

Forty years ago, cardiologist Herbert Benson (and founder of Harvard’s Mind/Body Medical Institute) made something old new again. He recognized that with a simple breathing exercise, muscles relax, organs slow down, and blood flow increases to the brain. A perfect trifecta of good health. Effective breathing triggers the body to return to a pre-stress state and allows it to heal.

The Relaxation Response was more designed for disease prevention and cure (as a side note, Benson first published his results in the American Journal of Psychology with the mouthful of a title “A wakeful hypo metabolic physiologic state”) – Benson would document impressive results for conditions, such as: fibromyalgia, gastrointestinal ailments, insomnia, hypertension and anxiety disorders (but not hair loss). Good old, daily relaxation is actually good medicine for anyone’s health. Let’s look at 5 easy ways to get started (even if you’re a high achiever and hate the lotus position).

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE HIGH ACHIEVER

Someone wisely once said “Advice is cheap – doing is what takes work”. My recommendations will take some work – the good news is, not very much. The Clutter Cleanse takes 5 minutes (every week), Zone Out 3 minutes, Escape into a novel 15. You’re probably spending more time reading about happy people leading wonderful lives on Facebook every day than it will take to complete any one of these practices.

Here are 5 ways of doing nothing and making it a natural part of everyday, just like brushing your teeth and syncing your Fitbit.

#1 Do a Clutter Cleanse.
This is a no brainer – reducing clutter increases brain capacity. Think of it this way: when you see something “unfinished”, like a half-read book, sticky note, orphan computer cable, or client file, you’ll think about it. “I should deal with that.” “Ugh, not now…I’m swamped.” “Right. I’ll get to it tomorrow.” “Yup, that’s it – tomorrow.” ….and on it goes for weeks.

#2 Zone Out
Here’s a simple 3 minute mind-break for midday. Zone out. Start by picking one object (like a pen, or coffee cup) and giving it all your attention. Focus on slowing your breathing and enjoying a full exhale/inhale rhythm. Let the rest of your attention fall away. It’s like a mini-vacation from thinking and doing – I always feel more relaxed and ready to focus on the next task.

#3 Escape into a novel
I love having a fun who-done-it on the go for some mindless mental entertainment. In fact, knowing I have a great read waiting is a good incentive for me to shut down whatever I’ve been working and to start wrapping up my day. Fifteen minutes before bed is all it takes to make you feel you own your day.

#4 Build Your Unplugged Habit
Use line-ups for coffee, waiting for the bus, or time before a meeting starts to unplug, chill, and restore. Fidgeting with your phone won’t help – there’s lots of time for that. Gaps in your day are invitations to unplug, allow, and re-balance – take them.

#5 Get Into Nature
It’s so simple, but we ignore it – take a walk in nature. Even a patch of green behind your subdivision is all it takes to allow the world to drop away and to recover a sense of belonging and peace. In one study researchers found that even after just one long walk in nature volunteers were more attentive and happier.

Doing nothing might sound counter-productive – even bizarre. But it might just be the most powerful weapon you develop against an already-busy life. Like runners who jog between hard intervals, we all need to pause if we want to show up at 100%, fully present and ready to contribute.

Bonus Tip:

4 STEPS TO RELAXATION

Following is the Relaxation Response technique taken directly from Benson’s book The Relaxation Response:

1. Sit quietly in a comfortable position.

2. Close your eyes.

3. Deeply relax all your muscles, beginning at your feet and progressing up to your face. Keep them relaxed. If you struggle to quiet your thoughts, try starting by relaxing your tongue.

4. Breathe through your nose. Become aware of your breathing. As you breathe out, say the word “one” silently to yourself. For example, breathe in, and then out, and say “one”, in and out, and repeat “one.” Breathe easily and naturally.

Continue for 10 to 20 minutes. You may open your eyes to check the time, but do not use an alarm. When you finish, sit quietly for several minutes, at first with your eyes closed and later with your eyes opened. Do not stand up for a few minutes. Don’t worry about whether you are successful in achieving a deep level of relaxation. Maintain a passive attitude and permit relaxation to occur at its own pace. When distracting thoughts occur, try to ignore them by not dwelling upon them and return to repeating “one.” With practice, the response should come with little effort. Practice the technique once or twice daily, but not within two hours after any meal, since the digestive processes seem to interfere with the elicitation of the Relaxation Response.

So, get out there and… do nothing.

Strength and courage,
Wade

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