It's been a long time since we published our last episode. Too long. In today's episode we catch you up on the series of unfortunate events that have kept Karen and Kevin away from the mics for so long.
Karen closed on a transaction she's been working on for quite some time, and shares the ups and downs of the transaction. Listen as she shares the blow by blow of the negotiation and how it played out.
Having an agent who will negotiate hard for you and protect your negotiating position is crucial, and so many agents throw their clients under the bus in the hopes of closing the transaction quickly.
Today, we bring you an interview with Aaron Moore of Smart Zip. Karen recently became a client of Aaron's because they do some pretty impressive things with applying data analytics and applying it to real estate.
In this supersized episode, we talk about what we did leading up to and in the aftermath of the arrival of Hurricane Harvey.
I don't think we need much more of an introduction than that.
From time to time we like to welcome other entrepreneurs on the show to talk about their businesses and their own real estate stories. This week, we welcome our friend Eric Dolan, who in his career has been in the Army, the Oil & Gas industry, and is now in business for himself.
As the owner of the PostNet franchise in Tomball, TX, Eric shares a number of stories about the challenges and rewards of starting his own business. He talks about lessons he's learned and some interesting people he's met along the way. He also walks us through the process he used to select his commercial storefront location.
If you have any printing, shipping, or mailing needs, we highly recommend Eric. He will take GREAT care of you.
* What you owe on the house
* How much cash you expect to get out of the sale (for whatever reason)
We opened this episode chatting about the state of the market in Houston, and why it's not going down as many people believe. In fact, recent sales figures for the overall market seem to indicate that the market is still strong, with inventory still below the level of what is considered a "balanced" market. That means if your house isn't selling, it's not because of a poor marketing job, it's probably because it's priced too high for the location and condition.
The stated purpose of this podcast has from the beginning been to generate content that would eventually become a book. As we've stressed in the past, if you want a job done right, you have to hire a competent professional to help you. We believe this with real estate, and we took our own advice when it came to writing the book based on this show.
We've been doing this for over a year now, and we have hired Brian K. Wright to ghost write our book for us. In this episode you'll find out about Brian's background and why we think he is uniquely qualified to write for us.
Brian is also the host of his own very successful podcast, Success Profiles Radio, we recommend you give it a listen.
In this, the 10th and final Client Commandment, we cover the basics of the Closing Disclosure, and the things you really should know about before you sit down at the closing table. We bring you up to speed about the things you should question, and the things that really are normal.
We also get in to some story telling about a home warranty company that really needs to be called out for being sleazy. Enjoy the fireworks!
This week, we rebroadcast for you our mutual favorite episode, our rebuttal to the Adam Ruins Everything episode on real estate.
Since Kevin is traveling internationally, we are broadcasting this "best of" episode from our archives.
We will return next week with a new original episode.
Have you ever met someone and knew almost instantly that you were going to get along great with them? What about the opposite, where you almost instantly know you are NOT going to get along?
Much of that first impression comes from the communication style of the sender and the receiver. This week, we welcome back Tinja Anderson-Shiery to the show to talk about the 4 major communication styles. She reveals to us what our styles are according to the test we took. Nobody is all one style, rather we are all blends of the 4 different archetypes.
Why should you care? Knowing the nonverbal cues of each of the types will help you to adjust your communication style to suit your audience. This is a practiced skill that will benefit people in all walks of life.
The conversation was quite long, so we split it into 2 episodes. In this first half, we discussed the Expressive and Scientist archetypes. Next week, we will finish the discussion by covering Analyticals and Drivers.
Enjoy!
- “What are the demographics in this area?”
- "How are the schools here?”
- “What are the crime statistics of this neighborhood?”
- “Is there a church nearby?”
- “Is this a nice neighborhood?”
Get ready for a wild one! Karen blows off some steam in this episode. After spending a lot of time and effort with a client, she was dismissed by the client with no explanation. Obviously it's the client's decision as to who represents them, but it's basic common courtesy to explain your thinking to someone who has invested a lot of time and money into helping you find the perfect home for you, and who now will not be paid for it.
Real estate agents are people with families too! Consider this: Most people go look at houses after normal business hours and/or on weekends. That's time people normally spend with their families. Every hour an agent spends with you is an hour they choose to spend away from their family. So yes, it's the right thing to do to offer an explanation so to why you're terminating your representation agreement.
You might say, "Well, that's the lifestyle the agent chooses by their choice of profession." True. It's also true that wasted time is just a part of the cost of doing business. However, none of that is an excuse for you as a client to be rude.
Look, we get it. This industry is filled with real estate agents who will beg, badger, plead, and otherwise devalue themselves just to get your business. That's not Karen or any of the other agents who we have in our referral network. If that's what you want representing you, there are plenty of agents out there to choose from. However, if you want to work with someone who is authentic and real; if you will respect their time as much as they will respect your transaction, we want to hear from you!
While this podcast is primarily focused on real estate, we do take time to tell stories about our lives from time to time. In this episode, we share the struggles we have had this year with our kindergartener dealing with a bully at school. We thought it would be helpful to share this story if for no other reason than to give other parents the benefit of our experiences, and some things to look for with your own kids.
We also chatted a bit about Karen's new fitness regimen, which she's having great success with, and we take a moment to celebrate Kevin's latest flag football adventures in his work league.
Most people are familiar with the idea of crowd funding. Sites like Gofundme.com and kickstarter.com have helped some really great ideas get off the ground and brought in to reality.
This week, Nathan Roach, the CEO of MassVenture.com explains to us how the laws in Texas have recently been changed to enable a crowd funding spin to be applied to real estate investing. Through the platform, individual investors can invest as little as $500 in the projects they have curated for their members.
This week we sit down with Don Leonard. Don has been in the real estate industry for 34 years, giving him a wealth of knowledge and expertise in real estate. Don has hosted two radio shows in Houston about real estate, currently teaches at the Champion's School of Real Estate, and has had his own broker's license for 18 years.
Don sits down with us this week to swap war stories and offer some advice on some specific questions Karen has about a deal she's currently working. Don also shares with us some of the details of a coaching program he is hosting entitled the Nature of Real Estate. If you're an agent looking for a different way to do business than cold calling, door knocking, and publicly begging for business, then you're listening to the right podcast, and you should consider this coaching program.
Just imagine it: You wire your money to the title company as instructed the day before you buy your dream home. You show up to closing, and they ask you, "Where's your down payment?" You think this must be some kind of silly joke, so you say, "You mean the massive wire I sent you yesterday wasn't enough?"
"Wire? I checked a few minutes ago, and we didn't receive a wire from you, but I'll go double check." The serious look on the escrow agent's face tells you this isn't a joke.
"Yes," you say, "I sent it to the updated account you asked me to use via email yesterday."
"... I didn't send you any updated wire instructions yesterday."
After a few eternal minutes of double checking both on your end and on the title company's end, it's clear that you did indeed send the down payment, but you did not send it to the title company. Instead, you sent it to an overseas thief who has now disappeared with your money. How could this happen?
This has been a growing problem in the real estate industry that was highlighted by ABC news station KOMO in Seattle.
- The scammers first target real estate agents and attempt to gain access to their email accounts. Agents are great targets because their email addresses are readily available online, and there's a very high likelihood that if an agent gets an email from someone that says, "I'm interested in hiring you to represent me in the purchase of a home, please click this link for listing details", they're probably going to click on it. The problem is, clicking on the link gives the scammers control of the agent's email account.
- They then monitor the traffic in the account by checking it regularly or setting up a rule to automatically forward a copy of every email to a different account controlled by the scammer. (When was the last time you checked your auto-forward settings?)
- With the information that passes back and forth on their deals, the scammers can construct a pretty clear picture of the transaction: When it is taking place, how much money the buyer is bringing to the table, and what title company is being used in the transaction.
- Armed with these details, the scammers, posing as the title agent, send an email to the buyer the day before the transaction is supposed to close, providing them with a new account to which they should send the money. The email looks legitimate because it contains all the details of their transaction, so many people act on them, unwittingly sending their down payment money to overseas thieves.
What can you do to prevent this?
As an agent:
- Don't click on links or open attachments from unknown sources.
- Change your email password regularly
- Check your email forwarding settings regularly
As a consumer:
- Bring your funds to closing with a Cashier's Check OR
- (Here's a little tough love for you) Before you send a wire, pick up the damn phone and call the title company to verify that you have the correct information.
- Never, EVER act on "updated wiring instructions" without confirming via a PHONE CALL.
Don't get screwed, friends!
If you want to know what Phil Dunphy, roller derby, and dental work have in common, listen to the show this week.
Customer service seems to be a dying art in our increasingly digitally connected, yet personally disconnected world. Kevin and Karen talk about some recent customer service experiences they've had to illustrate why excellent customer service is one of the single most important ingredients to a successful real estate transaction.
Credit repair. It's a frequent question that many real estate agents hear from their clients: "I'd like to buy a house, but I have some problems with my credit. It really is an honest mistake but I don't know how to go about getting it cleaned up." Having bad credit can prevent you from qualifying for a loan. If it doesn't flat out prevent you from getting a loan, it will cost you many thousands of dollars in additional interest payments whether you're buying a home to live in or as an investment.
In today's episode, we welcome back our first ever repeat guest on the podcast, Dave Cole. Dave was previously a guest on the show for Episode 32, when we covered Solo 401(k) plans. Today, Dave returns to the show to talk about the state of the credit repair industry. Listen in as he gives a (very) brief history of the credit repair industry and points out how the business model that most of these services have doesn't work any more, and their customers are simply wasting their money.
Dave shares a much better approach that leverages the law to compel the credit bureaus to clean up your file if they can't produce all of the legally required documentation. It's a 60-90 day process, it costs a fraction of what you might pay a typical letter writing service and best of all, it's guaranteed.
If you want to learn more about the service, watch the webinar Dave created for it.
Tinja Anderson Shiery has spent her entire professional life until recently as a consultant teaching professionals how to craft their messages for success.
One of the many classes she teaches is entitled "Winnings Words", and Kevin was a student of hers in his role in the Oil & Gas industry, and the class changed the trajectory of his career. Listen in as Tinja compresses this 3 day class into a one hour crash course for Karen. If you take nothing else away from this episode, wrap your mind around the art of the sincere and honest acknowledgement.
Tinja has recently started her own business and works every day now to adapt the model she learned from her parents to fit her new role.
You can find Tinja's jewelry business here: www.candibytinja.com
You can also find her on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/tinjashiery
Have you ever wondered what would happen to your property if you didn't pay your taxes? Most people envision the police eventually knocking at the door and throwing you out. The reality in Texas at least is that the knock will eventually come, but it will be an investor knocking, an investor like today's guest, Arnie Abramson.
Arnie has been investing in Texas tax auctions since the early 1990s. With a very long track record of success, he leads the Texas Tax Sales Resource Group, which is comprised of individual investors that have been investing in income producing real estate in Texas for many years. The Group helps members find, bid on, purchase, and own properties that go to public auction in all 254 counties in Texas.
The law in Texas is very favorable to investors in these properties. The winning bidder at the auction is immediately awarded ownership and possession of the property. The ONLY right the previous owner retains is the right to "redeem" the property, a process by which the investor is rewarded with a 25% to 50% profit on his/her investment. If you are or want to be a real estate investor, you should listen to this episode twice!
In addition to investing in tax auctions in Texas, Arnie makes available to his priority members investment in certain tax liens outside of the Lone Star State, through the Lien-to-Deed program, the details of which he also shares in this episode.
Karen and Kevin are both Priority Members in the program, and as Karen says in the episode, just having the knowledge and education that Arnie provides gives us the confidence to go and bid at the auctions, which to the uninitiated are intimidating and confusing. If you decide to become a Priority Member too, we've worked out a discount with Arnie if you call by Monday, March 13!
If you'd like to ask Arnie a question directly, please feel free to reach out to him at arnie@txtaxsales.com.