La Quinta California Real Estate

One of our friends died of cancer recently. I did sell the house only to find out that it will have to go to foreclosure as there is not enough money in the estate to go through probate.

Nonetheless, I agreed to help the out of town nephew who was handling the estate by having an estate sale at the property yesterday. The nephew had taken the item he wanted, so our team of agents showed up and sold the rest. We got $750+ in 2 hours. It felt good to help the nephew without expecting anything in return. It was a beautiful day. We met some nice people. At the end, a nice couple came up and wants a realtor to buy a house.

There you - go. We got a new client, helped a friend, and had a nice time too. Realtors do many things that no one ever knows about.

I had a birthday party for my husband's 70th party on Friday night. I had many of our close friends and everyone there had bought one or more houses from me. One couple has not moved since we met them over 10 years ago, but they have referred me several friends.

I love my friends and I really appreciate their loyalty and support of my being a real estate broker. I feel I do a great job for them as a real estate broker. It is fun and rewarding for me to work with my friends to find their dream home and also visit their home over the years to feel the love they feel for their home.

I am amazed how many people tell me they do not do business with their friends and family. My friends and family are my favorite clients. I feel so much love and joy to help them.

Just a few minutes ago I took myself and 4 team members to a house where the owners had some items in the garage they wanted to give away or donate to charity. I unlocked the house and went into the garage and opened the garage. We were all in the garage looking at the items and I realized I had left my keys to my car and to the house and my cell phone on the counter in the home and we were locked out of the home.

After a moment of panic, we started to go and check the other doors. Thank goodness the cleaners had just been there and had left a slider open.

Usually when I show houses I leave the key to the front door outside or in the door. I carry my cell phone and car key so this will not happen. Good lesson. I was so lucky the slider was unlocked.

1. You sleep through your alarm

2. You are crabby to even the nice people

3. You feel tired all the time

4. You haven't had a day off for several weeks

5. You look forward to sleeping in a bed other than your own

6. All of your transactions are complete

7. You look forward to doing nothing for awhile

There are many reasons to be present when your listings are being shown by other agents.

1. The top reason for me is that I can see first hand what the client reaction is to the home.

2. I find out what people like and do not like about the home

3. I get a pulse on our competition for selling the home based on similar homes being shown too

4. I make sure the homes shows well with lights and soft music on

5. I make sure the home is locked and secure after the showing

6. I get to know other agents

7. I get tips from watching other agents on how to show homes and communicate with clients

For these and other reasons too, I am present when my listings are being shown by other agents.

1. Foundation cracks

2. Load - bearing walls removed

3. Faulty or insufficient wiring

4. Water, water everywhere

5. Leaky roofs

6. Ineffective windows

7. Damp facades

8. Pesky pests

9. Sagging floors

10. Rot

Connecting in real estate is what counts most. There are many ways to connect- phone, text, email, in person. For many years, I have made an effort to contact at least 10 people a day. A connections means that I reach out and they respond. In any business connecting is important, but it real estate the personal attention matters more than most.

Besides blogging, email, text, phone, I also have parties and make an effort to connect with my clients and friends throughout the year.

I very sledom get sick. Usually if I do feel sick, I just keep going and feel I can wlak it off. Yesterday was different. I pulled myself out of bed and went to the office as we were having our annual team business plan meeting for 2012. Then I had a listing appointment. I got the listing and returned to the office, but by then was beyond sick. The people in the office were in shock when I went home and spent the rest of the day in bed with almost no phone calls, no texts, no emails.

Later in the afternoon I did respond to a client wanting to list 2 condos and had my assistant send him pver the listing papers.

There you go, I listed 3 properties on the day I was sick and also received an offer on a short sale home. The business keeps flowing.

I am grateful for the business, but for me, I am still home in bed. I hope by tomorrow or Saturday I am well enough to at least answer the phone.

P.S. I had a flu shot too.

Many people do not realize that a real estate agent's work does not stop after the close of escrow. I let my clients know that I will be as involved or uninvolved as they want after the close of escrow.

 Many clients need help with HOA transponders for the gate, services, remodels, how to pay the first few payments, how to be sure title is recorded properly, how to be sure property taxes are paid properly, places to go in the neighborhood, home warranty requests.

Staying in touch with clients after the escrow closes helps build loyalty from clients and can make a difference in how much they love and enjoy their home. What seems so easy to us, may be very furstrating and challenging to new home buyers.

A few phone calls, emails, and notes in the mail, really do make a difference for clients after the purchase of their home.

Let's start a Black Friday for Home buyers. Here are some ideas to get people waiting in line all night to buy homes.

If you buy a home between 5 am  - noon on the Friday after Thanksgiving you can get a $1000 bonus from your realtor, $400 from you loan officer, a $200 home warranty, a $200 inspection, $a 200 reduction in escrow fees, and let's get the government to throw in a $1000 tax credit too. Total savings $3000!

Let's make this our goal to encourage our local, state, and national associations to back this plan or a similar plan to build real estate sales that will benefit sellers, buyers, real estate agents, brokers, services, and the whole economy as well.

We have one year to get this organized. Let's start now!