Website Revamp

Maybe it's because I'm in the lull between Christmas and New Years, but I decided to take some time to re-vamp my website! It could also be because at least 5 people visited my site yesterday from Twitter. Then I started looking at the site a little more critically. Anyways, new additions include the links along the side to visit my Facebook page, see my blog, follow me on Twitter and sign up for my news letter. So many choices!
I also re-worded/re-spaced and added pictures and new links to the buyer and seller pages.

Hoo-rah!

Now I'm just waiting on Wix to include HTML on their websites. This will allow me to add searchable listings, actual online forms users can fill out (as opposed to my snazzy PDF files) for the property evaluation and buyer wish list. The last time I checked they are going to have it included by the end of January. *FingersCrossed*

I think I can

I picked up the Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale from the library today. I realized in this profession, self doubt needs to be thrown out the window. The only thing standing in the way of me and the kind of success I’m driven to achieve, is the little voice in my head that’s saying “Nooooooooo” (imagine little helium induced voice).

The little voice, I’ll call her Debbie (Debbie the downer), pops up at the most inconvenient times. Real estate agents are meant to be notorious networkers/mover/shakers; you know… the ones at the party that talk to everyone! Over the holiday season I found myself in many situations where, yes, I approached and talked to many people. But there was one thing missing. A little dialogue I can say over and over and over again in my head, but for some reason, will not leave my lips. Even if I’d start speaking it Debbie would chirp in “Noooo no no no”. I’m SUPPOSED to say “Hey, guess what, I’m in Real Estate! If you or anyone you know was going to buy/sell a home, do you have a Realtor you’d refer them to?”…“No? Well I’d love to be that person!”

It sounds easy right?

Then according to Buffini I’m suppose to ask them for contact information and tell them I’m going to send them some “Items of Value”. Helpful information that everyone finds useful! This is where it really gets sticky for me.

I can’t decide if it’s a generational thing or what, but the idea of getting mail once a month from a Realtor, kind of makes me cringe. If it makes me cringe, how am I supposed to endorse myself in this way? More self doubt!

The truth is, I have a database of friends/family/past co-workers and most of them have either an address, phone number or e-mail address. I have been told I should be contacting people to give a “gentle reminder” each month that I’m a real estate agent. Hi, remember me, I help people buy and sell homes! By doing this, when someone I know runs into someone they know who is buying or selling, voila, my name pops into their head and a referral is born.

I have not 100% decided if I’m going to go the e-mail route or mail route. Mr. Brian Buffini would not approve of e-mail; I have no doubt in that. Really, if it’s e-mail, people can unsubscribe! I guess I should not be thinking people will want to unsubscribe… (AHHHH, Debbie getoutofmyhead!)

So if you’re reading this… FYI, you may receive a gentle reminder sometime soon...
And you will like it!

Social Media Social Media

To blog or not to blog, that is the question.

There are so many outlets to post information to consumers these days; it's hard to determine which outlet is the best avenue! I've been posting real estate related info to my Facebook business page (see menu to the right) and on my Twitter page. I got the idea I should be doing the same for my blog. The original intent for my blog was to talk about my experiences in the real estate industry and to keep a personal log of my memories, opinions, challenges, and triumphs.

So from now on, all real estate related information will be posted to my Facebook/Twitter pages. My blog will be more of a personal account. Whether people want to read about my adventures or not is another question. I think when people are trying to choose a Realtor, they would prefer to know a bit more about them; know they're a real person with good intention as opposed to a blood sucking sales person :)

That's the interesting thing about blogs and other social media outlets. They increase the transparency between professionals and their potential clients/general public. It gives people the ability to get to know me before they've had a chance to meet me. Or maybe they have met me, but they would like to get to know me better before doing business! Whatever the case may be, I will keep on bloggin

Interest Rate Update

Good news for everyone, the interest rates are still quite low! First time home buyers and investors, this is a great time to enter the market! Sellers, it's always a good time to list your property. Many people I talk to think that no one wants to buy in the winter but the truth is, if your property is priced right, I guarantee it will sell.

For more information, or if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me by e-mail or by phone 250-384-7663

Top 5 Worst Reno Mistakes

Really great article in the Globe & Mail: The top five worst reno mistakes you can make! Really good stuff in this article especially if you're considering the resale value of your home!


Click here to read the article!

Christmas is coming!!

HOLY MOSES, it's December. Where did 2009 go? Only 22 more sleeps until Christmas and I don't even have an advent calendar! I guess this means I get to eat a whole bunch of chocolates when I finally get my act together... maybe the sugar high will motivate me to start Christmas shopping (*shudder*)

So apparently Realtors are busy people?! Who knew! But as I'm learning... there's "good busy" and "baaaaad busy". Or more like "productive" vs "just busy". I'm taking a course right now put on by Brian Buffini and we're learning how to be great in 100 days. It basically takes the principal that if you invest your time wisely in making sure your clients/future clients know they are the most important thing to you, you won't have to spend your time prospecting in other ways. That is to say, there will be no door knocking/cold calling for me! In other words, I will generate leads by providing great service and asking for referrals. This way I don't have to advertise and basically ask to work with weirdos/difficult people. I will work by referral and get to work with high quality people (such as yourself!). Now I just have to get the ball rolling...

Oh, and it's rolling!! I've been contacting a few people asking for their addresses because during my first year in business, I'm doing a friends and family referral program. It basically goes something like this... You know me, you trust me, and you would feel comfortable referring me to your friends and family who may be buying or selling a home. If I receive a referral from you and it results in a sale, I will send some cash (well.. cheque) in your direction! Now that's incentive. At least this will help get me started during my first year. After that, it's all about the client appreciation parties (and you're invited)!!

So if you're interested in receiving some information about my referral program by mail, please let me know! You can send me a Facebook message, write me an e-mail (click here!), or give me a call at work! (250-384-7663). I would love to hear from you.

Oh, by the way, I'm never too busy for your referrals!!

First official week in the office

This week was my first official week in the office. You can tell I’m the keener as I arrive before everyone else and often I am the last to leave in the evening. When I get home I return to my computer to do more work. I feel like there is a lot to set up before I can actually go to work prospecting. I’m the type of person who needs to feel totally legit before I go out marketing myself.

Step 1, get a website, check! I manage to launch www.sairawaters.com this week and it certainly serves a purpose. It looks pretty, it has my contact info, and it also has some PDF forms buyers or sellers can fill out and send to me. It would be nice to have these forms online… but I’m not quite there yet. At least having a website makes me look like I’m on top of my game! Because I am!

Step 2, a buyer guide. I have been working on useful guide for buyers to use when they work with me. It has lots of useful information about the buying process including information on agency and additional costs in a usual buying transaction. It also gives clients an idea about what I offer and what they can expect from me. Coming soon to a Royal LePage mall kiosk near you!

Step 3, prospect and contact! I have a database of contacts now of mostly family and friends. It occurred to me that people of my generation do not keep addresses. Who sends snail mail?! So I’m working on getting addresses so I can send out a little “Hey, I’m in real estate now, have a magnetic calendar with my face and contact info on it so you can remember this all year round!”. I’m sure it will sound a bit better than that, but if anyone wants a calendar, send me your address!! Click here to e-mail me!

Step 4, breath! It’s hard not to get ahead of myself here. It’s the little over achiever in me that says, don’t go to bed yet, there’s more work to do! And I’m just working on getting things set up! This whole “work-life balance” that everyone’s been talking about might be something worth looking into. I guess if I figure it out right off the start, keeping it up later in life will be easier.

Real Estate "Shakeup"

There was an interesting article published in the Times Colonist this week which talked about some big changes on the horizon for Canada's real estate market.

To butcher and summarize, it basically says that any discount brokerage (i.e. 1% Realty) or “For Sale by Owner” (FSBO) will be able to use MLS (www.realtor.ca) to list their properties. Also, any agent working with a buyer does not have to talk to a listing agent, but can contact the seller directly to negotiate an offer.

This is big news!

What does it mean for the consumer? You will be able to search MLS and view ALL the properties for sale including the FSBOs or companies who want to pay to use the service! What does it mean for Realtors? We may have to charge our buyers for services!

Let me put this into context. If I were working with a friend who would like to buy a house, in the usual circumstance, I would take them to any property, ensuring that when an offer was placed, I would still get paid for the work I had done. This payment would come from the Seller’s brokerage, making my services essentially free to my buyer. If my buyer wanted to buy from a FSBO, then there would be no selling brokerage and I would need to seek remuneration from my buyer!

All of a sudden FSBOs do not look very appealing if you are a buyer working with a Realtor.

What about sellers? If someone would like to sell their $500,000 house, and they find out they have to pay 3% to their Realtor, listing it themselves seems pretty tempting and worth the savings! If the changes go through, sellers will have the option to list their property on MLS and have way more exposure than ever before!

I think the best thing I’ve heard with regard to FSBOs is “You wouldn’t do your own dental work, would you?...” The fact is, Realtors are professionals and have an amount of expertise when it comes to Real Estate. I think the services Realtors provide are invaluable and their presence in the market will not vary too much, regardless of the changes in CREA policy. If anything, these policies will give the discount brokerages a better chance at survival.

If and when these changes take place, it will definitely stir things up in the real estate market! Bring on change! Nothing else in life is constant!

Check out the full article at: http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=2175020

The never ending to-do list

I have not officially started yet, but my to-do list is about as long as my arm! I was up in Nanaimo for a course at the beginning of October full of new Realtors. The course is mandatory for any new Realtor in their first 6 months and it was a wonderful opportunity to pick everyone's brains about their company and ask what they had done so far. Quite quickly I realized there was a lot I could do before I actually started work as a Realtor.

The best part so far has been working on my website. I found this great site called Wix (www.wix.com) and it's so much fun. You can create an entire website using only flash. Now there are good things and bad things about this. Every real estate website out there has some sort of tool where Realtors can get leads, such as an online form to enter a client's property search criteria. With this site, I can't really do that! So I've been working on some snazzy PDF forms which can be filled out and e-mailed or faxed back to me! If I receive it by e-mail, I can easily compile all the information into an excel sheet to easily keep track of clients and their needs/wants. It has been exciting to plan how I will interact with clients and create neat tools which will help with the buying or selling process. It's fun to be creative again!

The next task is going to be promotional material. Since the Holidays are coming, I would love to send to my friends and family a little gift. Of course this gift will have my face and phone number plastered all over it... but it will be a gift none the less!

Which brings me to another thing I learned at my course... Referrals in this business are huge! A Realtor can get a lot of business just by referring an agent to someone. For example, I have relatives that live across Canada, and I can refer them a Realtor in their area and receive a fee for it. This is good, a) because I make money and b) because I can make sure friends or family abroad are well taken care of! I've already met so many wonderful people scattered all up the Island through the course in Nanaimo and I can't wait to send some referrals their way.

14 days until I start with Royal LePage! I can't wait to really get started.

And so it begins!

I just gave my notice at my very secure job with the BC Provincial Government to become a real estate agent! I guess when you really take the plunge, everything seems to move very fast. The truth is, this has been a long time coming. For anyone who has known me in the last couple years, I've been talking about this real estate business for a while now...


It all started when I sat down with my Dad during my last semester at Uvic and said "What am I going to do with my life?!" My big concern was, what the heck do I do after University?! It would be the first time in my life when I was not told what to do and how to do it, and this terrified me. I needed a plan!


So we started talking about all the ideals of a perfect job... I did not want to sit at a desk all day, I wanted to be mobile. I wanted to have contact with lots of new faces and provide great service. I needed a job that allowed me to be creative and dynamic. And of course, everyone wants a job that pays well! And so we concluded, Real Estate would be a good option.


So I started on the long road of studying, doing impossible assignments and learning the ins and outs of real estate "theory" I guess you could call it. You know, the boring stuff! Contract law, taxation, mortgage calculation, appraisal theory etc..etc....ETC. So it took some time, ahem, lots of time... but I got it done within the year.


Now came the hard part, actually sucking it up and coming to terms with becoming a "Young Professional". This also took time... but I'm here now!


I'm ready for all that lies ahead... the challenge, the learning, the roller coaster of commission sales! And I plan to document my adventures in my very first ever BLOG!