Paper Crusade

One thing I’ve been meaning to write about which has been bugging me since day 1 in this industry: WASTE. More specifically, PAPER WASTE. Real estate is a paper-heavy industry because there are copious amounts of paperwork (contracts, agreements), paper products (feature sheets, postcards, business cards) and general junk mail.

Considering it’s the 21st centry, isn’t it about time we cut back. There are innovative ways to get around all the paper and yet I still see realtors printing out 4 copies of every contract. I’m trying to take a new approach: contracts will be printed once, double sided. When it is filled out I will scan and e-mail copies to all parties involved.

Every little bit helps!

For example, when listing a home the sellers must sign a Multiple Listing Contract (3 pages) plus a Property Disclosure Statement (4 pages).

Let’s do a brief analysis. In 2009, 4117 houses sold in Capital Region. Let’s assume we are looking at just the listing documentation.

Realtors print two copies
(2x7x4117) 57,638 Pages
(Worse) Realtor print 4 copies: 115,276 pages

Realtors print double sided, one copy, scans and e-mails
(4x4117) 16,468 Pages

See how much paper we could be saving! And that’s just one side of the transaction. Granted not everyone has access to e-mail, but in this day, many do! Let’s not forget about the minimum 7 page contract of purchase and sale. The list of printed documents goes on and on and on AND ON.

One thing I love about Royal LePage is our electronic filing system (Realty Nuance). Every document (including inspection reports, contracts CMAs, photos) for each client is uploaded into the system. From there we can e-mail it to anyone necessary and have easy access to our files on the road. It’s so simple and we don’t have filing cabinets full of paper. The paper can be shredded and recycled. What a novel concept.

I’m thinking of going on a crusade to save paper. It shocks and disgusts me how much paper I have wasted myself since the beginning of the year and I’m only one of 1323 realtors in the Capital Region.

More to come on this topic…

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!

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.