Mary Pope-Handy's Silicon Valley Real Estate Commentary

Silicon Valley has a bifurcated market, and has for many months now. Some areas are hot sellers markets. In other areas, you can't seem to give away homes. 

What about Los Gatos?

The market is cooler than is seasonally normal.

Last week I did some serious numbers-crunching at my Live in Los Gatos blog. You can see the data there:
http://www.realtown.com/LiveInLosGatos/blog/los-gatos-homes/hows-the-los-gatos-real-estate-market

And for even more info, see my Real Estate Report, which details info on the whole of Santa Clara County, including San Jose, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Monte Sereno, etc.

The holiday season is well known as a time when suicide rates go up. When seemingly everyone is happy, and you're not, it just makes the gap between where you are and where you want to be feel even more immense.

This can happen to us in our businesses, too. With a challenging market and the financial pressures that can come with being more strapped than usual, it's easy to focus on what we don't have instead of what we do have.

And it can be hard to get excited about buying holiday gifts (or throwing a party, if you are in charge of your company or office) when there's not much money to put into it.

What to do?

Change your focus.

Take a break.  Get out a little!

Go window shopping to do nothing but collect ideas for other people.

Sometimes just "getting out" and "getting some fresh air" can be the biggest boost to your outlook - and to your productivity, whether it's for sending out holiday cards or getting in touch with clients and friends.

Make Contact!

This is a great time of year for just phone people and simply wish them happy holidays, happy New Year. Ask them about themselves (think the FORD topics of Family, Occupation, Recreation, Dreams). It doesn't have to be a long call, but it can be an upbeat call. That alone will improve your day and theirs!

Do a Good Turn!

Another thing to boost sagging spirits is to do some volunteer work, whether it's at a Christmas tree lot for charity or a soup kitchen. Spend a few hours serving others and you can't help but return home counting your blessings, and getting in touch with the real spirit of giving that characterizes the holidays.

Wishing all of you a very happy (and even productive) holiday season, and all the best for the new year!!

No one ever likes to change brokerages or offices. But depending on the way you run your real estate practice, it can be more or less difficult to make that change should it become necessary. (Why would you want to change? Possibly new management, a buyout or takeover, new practices that you don't agree with, a change in the feel of an office, new opportunity, or a whole host of reasons.)

Four years ago, I left one brokerage and joined another. At that time, I was starting to understand the concept of branding - that is, of branding oneself as opposed to the brokerage. This was a big AH-HA for me and it's one I hope to impress upon you.  From that point until today, I worked at branding myself first, at being interdependent instead of dependant, and today I'm more free to do what I want without fear of losing business than I was 4 years ago. I do not feel held captive by the branding or technology. 

Of course you want to make use of your brand's strength, but when you advance the company's brand and don't do the same for your own personal brand, you ultimately make the company stronger and yourself weaker. Brokerages know that agents come and go. But if the company name is always biggest and first, then every agent who does anything helps to strengthen the company's name - and ultimately that stays in the consumer's mind, not you, the lone practitioner.

In an earlier post, I mentioned co-branding as an important part of one's business plan.

But now, let's talk practical.  What to do to remain independent enough that you can "walk" if need be? (Did you ever read the book, "A Girl Needs Cash"? It's the same concept. You need some strength to have any freedom.)

First - and most importantly - have your own contact info that is totally distinct from your company. That means phone numbers, email and web addresses.

It's OK to use an office number, but ALSO include either a toll free number that you OWN or control, or a cell number that you OWN or control.

Do NOT use a company email address. Get your own permanent, professional email address (not agent@currentbroker.com or agentx@earthlink.com or agentx@aol.com - but agent@agentsbrand.com). If you left your current company today, make sure that at least your email and one phone number would go with you no matter what. We're talking permanence here - it is crucial!

Less crucial, but also important, is to not rely too heavily on your brokerage's technology. If your website is part of the company's site, and your database is locked into the company's web arsenal, you will have a much harder time extricating yourself if you should be thinking of leaving your current firm. YES, it is true that while you hang your license there, you are paying for those systems - but they can also hang you.

Better is to be interdependent - use what you can while not actually relying upon it.

I'm in the middle of a brokerage change now, going to Keller Williams as of Monday. For many years, I've had my own email account and website (and recently multiple sites and even multiple blogs). I've been using my cell phone and toll-free (non-company) numbers. If my clients contact me in most of the normal ways, they'll find me. If anyone were to "Google" me, he or she would find an abundance of entries (thousands) - so I'm findable. I did use my current company's technology, but never put all my data there. And I'm glad. I'm close to being "portable".

That said, I don't recommend moving if you can help it. It's a huge headache. But sometimes it's what you need to do. It's the right thing to do.

So brand yourself. Don't be overly dependent. Have the ability to walk - even if you never chose to exercize it. You will be in a better negotiating position and will be more confident and stronger overall if you do.

Real Estate 101: which is more cost effective - keeping your current clients or finding new ones? Most of us learned quickly that it's easiest and cheapest (and more fun) to keep your current clients than it is to constantly have a high turnover in your client base.  For managers of real estate offices, this principle is also true in terms of your agents: it's cheaper and easier for you to keep your current agents happy than it is to lose them and have to prospect out new ones.

So why is it so hard to do?

When we get busy, we can forget to prospect and keep in touch. These two things, prospecting and following up or keeping in touch, need to be Priority Number 1.

It helps a lot if certain things you do to this end are on "auto pilot". Like what?

As an agent...

(1) you can set your work week up so that every Monday you call 25 of your best clients and just check in with them. See how they're doing. Offer to do a CMA on their home (even if they don't want to sell). Offer to meet them for coffee. Go through the FORD list of asking them about their Family, Occupations, Recreation, and Dreams.

(2) you can send monthly newsletters or postcards out to your circle of influence with something useful and interesting to them - it can be by email or print or both (I suggest mixing the media).  I send Home By Design Magazine every other month to a core group of clients and each month this group gets a couple of email newsletters from me, plus holiday CDs in December. This part is really on "auto pilot" so it's easy - but the stuff they get is all good.

(3) take a client to lunch, or meet for coffee, a day or two each week

(4) when you take a new listing, invite your clients who live nearby to see you at the open house. They care about their neighborhood

(5) program your clients into your cell phone so that if they call you back, you can answer the phone saying hello and their name. (Doesn't it make you feel special when you call someone and they pick up the phone and know it's you already? You know you MATTER enough to be in their phone! This is one of my favorites, though I do all of the above.)

For a manager...

(1) agents need to know you care about them as people and not just part of a numbers game. Walk the office and "check in" with them. Take 30 minutes at some point each day and just walk around and visit. It may feel like a waste of time, but it's not. You are letting them know, collectively and individually, that you are there for them.

(2) do keep your office door open at least an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. Agents may not want to bother you when the door is closed and they may not have time to make an appt for 3 days from now. Be there for them.

(3) return calls and emails quickly, just like you want the agents to be quick in getting back to their prospects and clients. When you make an agent wait 8 hours, it's frustrating and it erodes the manager-agent relationship.

(4) public praise - spread it around. Most offices have an issue with "managers favorites" (where certain agents seem to get all the referrals and attention). Find a way to commend the good stuff that agents do at office meetings, from new agents getting their first listings to near retirees staying in the game or anything else that can be found praiseworthy.

Whether you're an agent dealing with leads, prospects, or clients, or managers dealing with agents in your office (or those you'd like to have in your office), it is very important to "Make 'Em Feel Special". Sometimes it's the emotional disconnect that can open the door to a professional break in the relationship - so don't let it happen!  Better to keep your key people on your team with planned attention than to be 100% busy with prospecting and lose the good folks you had.