The real estate market has been a real roller coaster ride these past few years but today sales figures are looking pretty good.  Up, down, sideways and back and forth, it sounds like a game of hopscotch but it’s actually the way the economy, recession and real estate market have been moving.  Mastering and grasping what is actually going on has had experts and professionals confounded, wondering how we can all come out ahead of the game; or still be in the game at all.  There is one aspect that most can agree on however, good news is always welcome.

KB Homes headlines show that real estate contracts are up overall in volume.  This good news for the housing market had a positive effect on stocks, as continued to climb.  Some even believe that the Spring buying season is starting early.  December is rarely, if ever, thought of as a Spring month but December showed that the Pending Home Sales Index is up over 10%.

There is no doubt that the real estate industry is faring better than a year ago.  To continue coming out ahead, job growth needs to improve and sustain growth, interest rates need to remain low and consumer confidence must continue to grow.  So far 2010 is looking much better than 2009 and hopefully real estate sales will continue to rise.

Click here for an article at Yahoo Finance about good news in the real estate market and its effect on the stock market.

Moving day can run a lot more smoothly if you are prepared. When you’re buying a new home, moving day can creep up on you before you know it and staying organized can help make the entire process run more smoothly and keep stress levels to a minimum.

Some things to take note of that will make moving easier are:

Book your moving company. Get suggestions from your Realtor or friends and book a moving company well ahead of time.  Leaving this step until the last minute could leave you without a solid moving company to use.

Packing.  Start packing well ahead of time, three or four weeks ahead of schedule may seem early but packing is time consuming and having everything boxed, labeled and organized will make moving much easier.  Start with items that you know you won’t need or can live without and by the last week have only your essentials left.  Storing your boxes in an unused room or the garage will make it easy for the movers to collect and move on moving day.

Survey your new home.  Know where you want to put things well before you ever move your belongings in.  Take a good look at each room and know where you want your furniture to go.  This will cut back on time and make everything run more smoothly for the movers.  Label each box/item with the specific room it will be going to in your new home.  Put signs on the dorrs to each room, I.E Bedroom #1, Family Room, etc.   This will make it a lot easier and faster for you and the movers to get your stuff to the right room the first time.

Don’t forget about the psychological effects of moving. Children can actually be traumatized by moving.  The loss of friends and their comfort zone can really upset the already stressful moving process and make it much tougher on the adults.  Don’t forget about the kids and involve them in the moving decision process from the beginning. Click here for an article from TLC on the psychological effects of moving on children.

In a nutshell, the more prepared you are to move, the easier the entire transition will be.

What looks like a real estate bargain is not always a bargain.  For potential real estate investors who have money in their pockets, today’s real estate market is full of bargains, but be careful what looks like a real estate bargain isn’t always what it appears on the surface.  Some of the best bargains out there have foreclosure written all over them.  The biggest problem with foreclosures is that they are in the lender’s hands and more often than not the lender is not maintaining the property.  In cold climates this could mean frozen pipes and water damage, in other areas it could mean more general electrical or plumbing problems.  Even worse, the roof may be leaking.

In general foreclosure properties are sold “as is”, which means that there will be no inspections and the lender will not be putting any money towards repairs.  Air quality problems that may arise from mold, radon, gas leaks, will not be mitigated.  Lead paint will not be replaced nor will asbestos be removed.

If you have your heart set on a foreclosure property, take off your rose colored glasses and be realistic.  Contact an experienced Realtor and try to get a sales history on the house.  Doing your homework will usually result in a better outcome.

Once your website begins to generate new leads, the tough part is over. However, you still need to effectively convert those new leads into clients before the commission starts to flow. There are several key differences between the average prospect and one from the Internet. Understanding these differences will save you time and frustration and most importantly will keep you from making the mistake of neglecting and losing these valuable new leads.

The Online Prospect

Online leads usually represent buyers or sellers in the early stages of research who are just collecting information for a potential purchase. It’s often anywhere from 6 months to over a year before a new lead is ready to sell or purchase a home.

Prospective online clients are generally in an information-gathering mindset. They’re accustomed to collecting information freely and anonymously on the Internet and are often reluctant to provide their valid contact information. Because of this, many agents become frustrated with their online prospects and consider them a waste of time. In fact, some surveys indicate that as many as 90% of all agents don’t even respond let alone pursue their online inquiries.

This is a huge mistake as statistics show that online home-buyers are every bit as likely to use a Realtor in their purchase. The key is to utilize the right tools to efficiently follow up with them regularly during the months after the initial contact.

Client Management Tools

First, you’ll need to get a feel for how close your leads are to buying or selling their home and sort them into different groups accordingly. It’s not practical to constantly call, mail, and email every single lead you get. You want to focus more on the leads that are almost ready to buy, but still maintain contact with the others and keep track of their progress.

Lead follow-up can be quite painless and inexpensive with the right tools and systems. Some websites offer integrated client management and follow-up features but there are plenty of other contact management software providers available.

For example, most IDX equiped websites allow agents to track the number of logins for each of their prospective clients, making it easy to determine their activity and level of interest. You can see at a glance who you should be focusing on and who you can just include in a monthly mailing. Agents can also sort their prospects into different email lists, making it simple to contact all their prospects with specific related topics of interest.

Whether you’re sending your leads free market reports or updates on new properties on the market, try to address each of their specific needs as much as possible. A family looking for a 4 bedroom home in the suburbs shouldn’t receive emails about your new studio or 2 bedroom apartment in the city. If your emails don’t contain anything useful, they’ll quickly associate it with all the spam that floods their inbox box everyday and all future emails will go straight to the Trash folder.

Most IDX systems that sync with real estate websites allows visitors to specify what type of home they’re looking for and sends them automated emails of new listings that fit their specific criteria. Each time they receive an email on a new propertylisting, they also get a link that allows them to log in to their account where all of the properties that match their criteria are listed. This encourages prospective clients to revisit your site and continue to build familiarity with you.

A monthly newsletter or blog is another good way to maintain contact with previous clients and leads who are still in the early stages of their home search. There are several companies offering professionally written newsletters that can be branded with your contact information. RealEstateABC, Realty Times, and Inman News all offer reasonably priced monthly newsletters. Some website providers can offer these products at a discounted rate through their partnerships with the provider. You should check with your website provider before purchasing these products or services directly from the vendors.

Prompt and Personal Response

You should check your email several times a day and respond to inquiries promptly. Auto responders have their role (which we will get to shortly) but you shouldn’t rely on them to handle your general email accounts. I treat email messages like voice mail messages; a response should be given to both by the end of the business day they are received even if it is only to say you will get back to them tomorrow.

When someone submits a contact form through your website or sends you an email, they expect it to reach a live person and to receive a personal response. You don’t want to disappoint them with a canned response to their specific questions and requests. The Internet is an impersonal and anonymous communication tool, but the real estate business is not. It’s important that you take this opportunity to begin establishing a personal relationship with your visitors.

Your initial contact can very well determine whether your relationship will flourish. Always keep your replies courteous, professional and grammatically correct. Keep your emails concise and make sure they include all of the requested information and address all of your visitor’s questions. You’re probably not the only one the online prospect has contacted but if you can give a personal response that provides relevant information, you’ll be way ahead of the pack.

For those prospects that provide a phone number, it’s always a good idea to follow up with a phone call as soon as possible thereafter. These prospects tend to be more serious and have more resources available to them. It’s likely that they’ll quickly be contacted by other agents. You need to be first.

Out of town prospects that are relocating to your area are probably working with a longer time frame. They may not be ready to start their search in earnest yet, but it doesn’t hurt to begin building a relationship early.

Email Auto Responders

Email auto responders are special email addresses that automatically reply with a pre-written message. You should generally only use auto responders to handle specific inquiries such as requests for market reports or a home-buyer’s checklist. In this case, a visitor to your website may request to have an article emailed to them through an online form, and it can be automatically sent to them without your interaction.

The only time you should be using an auto responder for your general email is when you won’t be able to return emails for an extended period of time. For example, if you’re going on a 10 day trip, you can have an auto responder set up to let your clients know that you won’t have email access until a certain date and to provide an alternate way of contacting you in an emergency.

There are also email programs that not only send an automated reply but also send subsequent messages at set intervals. You should make sure your prospects know that they’ll be receiving regular emails when adding them to your mailing list.

Final Tips

• Always include a link to your website in all emails
• Never use ALL CAPS as it makes it a pain to read and is often perceived as shouting
• Never email your clients and prospects by adding their names to the CC (carbon copy) field. Your clients and prospects do not want their email addresses shared with everyone on the list. Use BCC (blind carbon copy) instead, so the email addresses are hidden.
• Make sure everyone on your email list can easily unsubscribe. Either a link or instructions on how to opt out should be included with every email.

For more information about how to convert online leads, call PSS at (310) 833-0432 or Email us at Info@PSSPROS.com.

As always, your comments good or bad are welcome. Just click on “Comments” below to let us know what you think.

The real estate roller coaster leaves many questions. Let’s face it, times are tough and on any given day the mood is a different from the day before.  The market’s up, then down, we’re in a recession, we’re recovering, it’s hard to know what’s really happening out there with so many mixed signals.  The real estate market is a difficult one to figure out overall and still remains up or down relative to where you are located.

Is real estate improving?  Sales are up, inventory is down but foreclosures are expected to keep coming, especially with unemployment figures on the rise.  To find out if real estate in your area is improving talk to a real estate agent and look at the local statistics they provide.  December real estate sales figures were down as a nation but some areas of the country saw an increase in sales.

Have we hit bottom?  Again, it depends on where you are.  Parts of the country have hit bottom others still have a way to fall.  Home prices seem steady in parts of the country and climbing in others.  The areas where home prices will continue to fall are those hit hard by job losses, an increase in foreclosures and too much inventory.

In a nutshell, real estate is relative like everything else in life.  It is improving in many areas and as soon as our recovery includes job growth the market will continue to improve more broadly across the country.

Click here for an article about real estate on Yahoo Finance.

There are many inexpensive ways to make your home more appealing.  If you are planning to stay in your home for many years, certainly do what pleases you regardless of the cost effectiveness of the improvements.  If you are looking to sell you home however, your selling strategy should be completely different.  With so many improvement possibilities out there, some more expensive than others, it would be wise to engage in those projects that will produce the most return on your dollar. If you are thinking of selling your home or already have your home on the market here are some tried and true, inexpensive ways to improve your home and make it more appealing to a potential buyer.

• Paint.  Painting a home is something that anyone can do themselves, or hire a painter to do.  Fresh paint on the interior and exterior of a home makes it instantly appear clean and fresh.
• Clean & De-clutter.  Remove clutter, family photos and other personal items and clean and organize your home.  Clean your carpets.
• Repair & replace.  Have a broken window?  Fix it.  Does your screen door squeak, oil the hinges.  Look at your home with a fresh set of eyes and fix what looks broken or is broken.  Duct tape may be fine for you, but probably not a prospective buyer.

These are just a few things that you can do yourself.  It is a competitive real estate market out there and to sell your home quickly and for the most money it has to look its best.

For more inexpensive home enhancement ideas click here to visit an article at Trulia.com.

The FHA is finally doing something to insure that it will be able to continue financing new homes.  While the past few years have not been easy in the housing sector and the FHA is working hard to assure its stability in the market.  Created to insure that people could purchase affordable homes and catering mostly to the first time home buyer, the FHA is an integral part of the real estate business and keeping the association healthy is important to communities around the country.

The changes that the FHA is making to insure its survival are as follows:

• The mortgage insurance premium will rise.  It will now be 2.25% of the loan amount as opposed to 1.75%.
• New Borrowers will have to have a FICO score of 580 or more to qualify for a 3.5% down payment, those with a score of less that 580 will have to put a 10% down payment toward their new home.
• Seller concessions are being reduced to 3% from 6%, to limit any inflation that can occur on the price of a house.
• FHA lenders are going to be carefully scrutinized to make sure that they are adhering to FHA rules and regulations.

The FHA has helped to put many people into new homes since its inception in 1934.  Its changes reflect its desire to continue to help many more for years to come.

For more information on the FHA changes click here.

The Beatles were in San Pedro Saturday night at the fabulous Warner Grand Theatre.  Well not the real Beatles. Actually, it was the stage play “Ticket To Ride” directed by P.M. Howard; a history of the Beatles music narrated by their manager Brian Epstein (played by Mark Nagar) in life and after his death in 1967. While I enjoyed the show overall, they had some real problems. Individually the boys vocals were excellent; as a group, not so much… While there were some great renditions, “Hey Jude” comes to mind, they were a little disjointed as a group. George’s guitar playing, as performed by Robert Bielma was their weak link in my opinion. He just couldn’t hit the classic Beatle lead guitar notes like the George Harrison we all new and loved.

Technically, the performance was a disaster. “Ticket to Ride” was plagued by sound problems from the begining, especially with the microphone on Brian Epstein and the intermittent failure of the graphics/video on the big screen. The video/graphics portion of the play would have been a great addition had it worked. I have to give “Ticket to Ride” two stars at best.

All in all though, another great night in San Pedro!

Be prepared for what a home inspection might reveal when selling your home. Home inspections can often make or break a deal.  If possible, sellers should have one done ahead of time so repairs can be made and a home can be in the best possible condition.  However, a seller often does not do a home inspection and is caught off guard by a long list of repairs presented by the prospective buyer in the due diligence portion of the contract process.

The most common home ailments that show up in the home inspection process are:

• Faulty electrical wiring
• Roof damage
• Plumbing issues
• Poor drainage
• General lack of upkeep

These are common problems that can add up to a potential home buyer walking away if the seller is unable or won’t to step up and make the repairs or commit the money to make the repairs.  Examine these aspects of your home yourself, if you know everything is in good condition and the work that has been done to your home has been completed by professionals then you can rest easy., Otherwise, be prepared to make repairs in order to sell your home.

To view an article on home inspections by Realtor Magazine, click here.

Even though a real estate website can be a wonderful lead generation source, you can be too aggressive in gathering information and contacting your visitors.

1. Open with Flash Intos and Other Obstacles to Information They Want.

While they may look pretty, Animated Flash Intros and banners are really a distraction to visitors searching for information. Avoid them at all costs. Website visitors have a very short attention span and do not want to make any extra clicks to get where they want to go.

2. Fill your site with pop-ups wanting information.

Though pop-up blocking is used a lot, many programs use pop-ups for valid functions, like my MLS system. So many users don’t have them turned off and really hate having a “Sign My Guest Book” or some other annoyance jumping onto the screen when they want to see a neighborhood map.

3. Make them sign in for your “free” information or services.

Get into those search results with phrases like “free MLS search” and then make them sign in to do it. To the average internet prospect, “free” means without payment or anything in trade. Their contact information is something very important that they have to trade to get to the free search you advertised.

4. Gain their contact information through stealth tactics.

Though it’s much more difficult to gather information without permission in today’s systems, there are still those out there that do it. By gaining an IP address and tracing it back, some can eventually get to an email address. There are other ways too technical for this discussion. However, they’re all very negative from the site visitor’s perspective. Privacy is one valued expectation of internet shoppers.

5. Contact them too much and too early.

The average internet real estate prospect begins their research very early using the internet. That’s because they expect to be able to gather information without sales or other pressures. One broker who makes 100% of real estate income from a website says that the average is eight months from first substantive contact to a transaction. That doesn’t include the time they researched before contact. Don’t pester the internet prospect….just provide information when they need it.

Want to learn more about creating a low cost effective lead generating website? Just call Lee at PSS for more information (310) 833-0432. http://www.psspros.com/.

As always, your comments good or bad are always welcome. Just click on “Comments” below to let us know what you think.