Hawaii Randy's Real Estate Opinions: Randy L. Prothero - Hawaii REALTOR® (Century 21 Liberty Homes)

After several delays I am finally getting my cards out today.  As in the years past I am sending Christmas Cards, not Holiday Cards.

I have actually been counseled in the past that I may offend some and should not mail Christmas Cards.  When I worked for a large corporation years ago it was company policy not to call them Christmas Cards.

Here is my response.  LIGHTEN UP!

• Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas.
• Mele Kalikimaka, Mele Kalikimaka, Mele Kalikimaka, Mele Kalikimaka,   (Mele Kalikimaka is Merry Christmas in Hawaiian).

If someone celebrates another holiday from another religion and sent me a card, I would not be bothered or insulted.  If someone were to say a pray for some other religion I would be courteous and respect them by being quiet.  If someone placed a religious display for their Holiday it would not bother me in the slightest.  Why would a rational person be insulted by Merry Christmas?

After almost 2 seconds of thought I made a business decision that every year I will send Christmas Cards.  If that costs me a piece of business it will be offset by any it may bring me. 

So please go out and enjoy the Christmas Holidays with you family and have a safe and prosperous 2007.

Also view my post: Hawaiian 12 Days of Christmas

In Hawaii, we have our own Pidgin version of Twelve Days of Christmas song:

Here is the last verse:  Numbah (number) 12 day of Christmas, my Tutu (grand mother) gave to me:

• 12 television
• 11 cans of spam
• 10 missionary
• 9 ukulele
• 8 pounds of poi
• 7 shrimp a'swimmin'
• 6 hula lesson
• 5 big fat pig
• 4 flower lei
• 3 dried squid
• 2 coconut &
• 1 mynah bird in one papaya tree
  
  

The numbers and words are pronounced in proper pidgin, making this truley a local version.

The official dictionary for Pidgin is called: Pidgin to Da Max.

Aloha Everyone, I just received this notice from my local Wells Fargo agent about the new FHA holiday program. 

Effective for HUD REO sales contracts dated between
Dec. 8, 2006 and Jan. 5, 2007

 The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is offering a special sales campaign, called "FHA Brings the Holidays Home." This campaign is especially designed for low- to moderate-income families and HUD-owned single-family real estate owned (REO) properties across the country.

During the "FHA Brings The Holidays Home" sales event, homebuyers who purchase a HUD-owned home and finance the purchase with an FHA-insured loan will be entitled to sales incentives including:

• $2,500 Holiday Home Improvement Allowance*
• $500 bonus to the selling real estate broker
• Minimum required down payment of only $100

The incentives are effective for HUD homes sold between Friday, Dec. 8, 2006 and Friday, Jan. 5, 2007 to homebuyers who intend to occupy the property as their primary residence for at least 12 months and who do not currently have an FHA-insured mortgage.

In addition to the special holiday sales incentives, buyers may also receive a credit for up to three percent (3%) of closing costs.

The $2,500 Holiday Home Improvement Allowance will be a cash credit from FHA to the borrower at closing, which may result in cash back to the borrower on the HUD-1. This is acceptable for this program. Even though the borrower may receive cash back at close, WFHM must still verify and document the loan file to indicate the borrower has the required down payment and sufficient funds to cover their other costs.

Additional information on HUD disposition programs is available at http://www.hud.gov/ and http://www.espanol.hud.gov/

One of the hardest words for a salespeople to say is no. 

Inexperienced agents in the business all go through the same process of growth.  Initially they chase every piece of business they can find, whether it be good business or not.  After all they have nothing better to waste their time with.

Many times a client or prospective client who will push inexperienced agents in places they do not want to go and should not go.

• Overpricing listings
• Holding more open houses than practical
• Overspending on advertising
• Making them available all types of hours
• Showing buyers properties they wouldn't buy in 100 years.
• Submitting ridiculously low offers that would never be taken serious

We have all seen new agents take buyers to see properties without a proper pre-qual to only find out later that they were not credit worthy.  I have received offers from agents who have not pre-qualed the clients.  You guessed it when we pushed for the pre-qual they shriveled up.

As we grow in the business our time and resources become more valuable.  We mature and learn lessons from past experiences.  The most important lesson we learn is to say no.

Many times just saying no is the best and only reasonable answer. 

One of my best and favorite clients, started by me refusing his listing.  He was stunned, how could I turn down this piece of business?  This seller was a very experienced investor who had beat up more than a few Realtors in his life.  I decided up front that I not be the next scalp on his pole.  This is the most important part of the story. You can say no without insulting people.

The end result was we sat done and talked heart to heart about how I could make him more money without jumping in quick sand.  He liked what I had to say, he adjusted his business model and we have since built a great business relationship and friendship.  I have also received quality referrals from him.

You will know when you have turned the corner in your career when you can say no and turn questionable clients into good clients and filter out bad clients.

Here are a few blogs on similar topics:

• My blog: You Are Fired! or Not? - Do You Use a Buyer's Representation Agreement?
• My blog: Good Listing vs. Bad Listing
• Lenn Harley's Blog: DON'T TELL MY AGENTS I'M SENDING BUSINESS AWAY
• My blog: Take My Client Please!

The first Picture shows the beginning and end of WWII.  The Arizona Memorial and the Battleship Missouri.

The letter below is from my brother Russ a great guy, a great Realtor and a Marine.

A family member sent this article of the USS Reagan. In the back ground you will see the Arizona Memorial what you don't see is the Missouri moored just to the left of the Photo. Essentially at this location is the beginning and the ending of WWII. Pearl Harbor attack and the signing of the surrender of the Japanese on the decks of the Missouri.         I hope we never forget.

USS REAGAN

Seeing it next to the Arizona Memorial really puts its size into perspective. ENORMOUS

Just thought some of you that don't realize what it takes to run a ship this size might be interested in the facts.

Please read about the USS Reagan.  Also notice the respect that they give the Arizona Memorial when passing it.


This is absolutely beautiful!
USS REAGAN PASSING THE ARIZONA MEMORIAL

BEAUTIFUL!

When the Bridge pipes "Man the Rail" there is a lot of rail to man on this monster. Shoulder to shoulder around 4+ acres.  This doesn't give her displacement but it's about 100,000 tons with full complements.

CAPABILITY

• Top speed exceeds 30 knots
• Powered by two nuclear reactors that can operate for more than 20 years without refueling
• Expected to operate in the fleet for about 50 years
• Carries over 80 combat aircraft
• Three arresting cables can stop a 28-ton aircraft going 150 miles per hour in less than 400 feet SIZE
• Towers 20 stories above the waterline 1092 feet long; nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall
• Flight deck covers 4.5 acres
• 4 bronze propellers, each 21 feet across, weighing 66,200 pounds
• 2 rudders, each 29 by 22 feet and weighing 50 tons
• 4 high speed aircraft elevators, each over 4,000 square feet

DATES

• Dec. 8, 1994 Contract awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding
• Feb 12, 1998 Keel laid
• Oct 1, 2000 Pre-commissioning Unit established
• March 4, 2001 Christened b y Mrs... Nancy Reagan
• May 5, 2003 First underway
• July 12, 2003 Commissioned
• July 23, 2004 Arrived at home port in San Diego, CA

CAPACITY

• Home to about 6,000 Navy personnel
• Carries enough food and supplies to operate for 90 days
• 18,150 meals served daily
• Distillation plants provide 400,000 gallons of fresh water from sea water daily, enough for 2000 homes
• Nearly 30,000 light fixtures and 1,325 miles of cable and wiring 1,400 telephones, 14,000 pillowcases and 28,000 sheets
• Costs the Navy approximately $250,000 per day for pier side operation
• Costs the Navy approximately $2.5 million per day for underway operations (Sailor's salaries included).

Attached is a part of the WWII event that started the war.  The story below is from my brother about his part in 1969.  Attached below is a letter he sent out to his friends.

Hi Folks, 

                Back in 1969 I was in the Marine Corps stationed in Kaneohe, Hi. A couple of guys and myself were looking for shells on base at the beach right across the road from the riding stables. Now you should know that Kaneohe was the first base hit when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Kaneohe was at that time a Navy base and was home to a PBY air wing. Well back to the looking for shells I had spotted what I thought was a peculiar looking shell and started digging it up when I notice the shell had teeth. The more I dug the more the shell looked like a skull. I called CID which is like the FBI in the Military and they contacted Bishop Estates which does excavating of ancient artifacts in Hawaii. It turns out that the shell was of a solder that had been missing since the bombing of Pearl and was thought to be AOL. I guess he was sun bathing on the beach when the bombers came in and strafed the beach. CID said they found out his name and informed us of the circumstances.

This are links to websites that tell the story of the attack at Kaneohe Bay:

• http://www.mcbh.usmc.mil/tour/mokapu/Mokapu_military2.htm
• http://www.homeofheroes.com/pearlharbor/pearl_2finn.html

This hit me as I was reading a conversation on a blog about one franchise over another.  It kind of hit home with me.  I had a similar conversation with a representative from a large franchise who was trying to recruit me.  After the pleasantries the conversation moved towards how much better his company was than mine.  Hmmm did he just call me stupid?  Or did he call my decision to work there stupid?  Isn't that the same thing?

When talking to "For Sale by Owners" (notice I did not call them FSBOs or any other nickname designed to make them feel inferior), do you start with belittling their decision and tell them how they are too stupid to sell it themselves?  I know many agents who use this approach.  Notice I did not say successful agents.

When talking to other agents you would like to see join your company; do you say negative things about their existing company and call their decision to be there stupid?

When trying to pick up a listing that had expired do you start by calling any of the owner's previous decisions stupid?

If the answer is yes to any of the above, you may want to rethink who is the one lacking the intelligence, it may not be them.  No one responds well to having their intelligence questioned.  I try to keep the conversation upbeat most of the time.

When talking to the owner of a For Sale by Owner or an Expired Listing you can't start by insulting them and expect to get their business.  If you start by complimenting their home or their courage to try it themselves and share what you have to offer to improve their lives you may have a chance.  Let me repeat that in other words: Tell them what value you will bring to their lives without insulting them!

I learned this many years ago while selling large machinery.  I was new in the business; my biggest competitor had been around for many years.  He would go around and tell customers what a piece of junk they had and how much better his was.

Did you hear the two insults?  He called their decision to buy that machine stupid.  He also called their product junk, because after all, that machine produced their product.

I visit the same customer, research his business and his needs.  Then compliment the great job they were doing and offer them ways to enhance their business through improved profits while continuing to improve their products.  You can guess which tactic was better received.  You can also guess who sold more machines.

This is salesmanship 101.  If you call someone's decision stupid you just called them stupid.   Ok I will get off my soap box, I promised my family we would hand Christmas decorations today.

Why are so many agents too lazy to post pictures of their listings? 

I have seen discussions on this topic more than once.  Our Century 21 franchise even goes so far as to send reminders if you don't have enough pictures posted.  Our MLS allows for up to 10 pictures.  Every training class having anything to do with marketing drums the importance of good pictures into us.  Your clients expect it!

Yet while making showing appointments for tomorrow I came across many listings with no pictures.  I came across a few that had pictures of the ocean and none of the listing.  A few more had a camera phone picture of the exterior.  In last Sunday's newspaper several Realtors had pictures of themselves on the ads for properties.  It is obvious they are more interested in marketing themselves and not their client's properties.

I know I am preaching to the choir.  Most of the agents I am interacted with on AR are top professionals.  Those too lazy to take good pictures are probably not here.

I feel real sorry for a seller with a property that is not moving and they have an agent who has not even done basic marketing of their home.  After all that is what we are being paid to do isn't it?

For very little you can buy a great digital camera.  I recently bought another Sony digital camera for $249.  It is 6 mega pixels (more then we need for the internet) and has a great lens.  To test it I turned off all the lights in one of my listings one evening.  I snapped the camera and it took a great picture even in total darkness.

If you are one of those folks who don't know how to use those digital gadgets, pay your teen age neighbor to take your pictures and help upload them.

I believe the services I supply my clients with are worth top dollar.  If you want to be able to say that, you have to provide top service and top marketing.

I still can't get over the agents who post their picture in the newspaper instead of the home they are trying to sell.  I thought I would try it here to see if it works.

If you have selling real estate for any period of time you have seen contracts that just make you scratch your head.  Sometimes you see simple errors such as missing signatures, wrong addresses and misspelled names.  Other times you see outright scary stuff.

When I write contracts I live by a simple rule that a wise instructor once taught me.  If you write anything in the contract that takes more than a sentence or two you are practicing law.

A couple of months ago I had a run in with a broker-owner who gave me the craziest counter-offer I had ever seen.  He put four paragraphs of truly bizarre language in the special provisions that talked about the source, type, etc. of my client's funds.  He also included language that my clients would make up any difference between the appraisal and the sell price.  The funniest part was this was property had been on the market much longer than the norm.

I spoke to the agent and let him know that I am recommending that my clients reject this counter - offer because of his language.  He then preceded to council me on how to speak to my clients and I need to tell my clients that there are times they just need to take a chance.  I thanked him for his input and let him know that the only way they would sign it was when Waikiki gets a blizzard.  I also shared with him the following:

• Me: I have never seen any language like that before in a contract.
• Seller's Agent: That is standard language!
• Me:  I not only have never seen this language before, but I past this contract around to several very experience agents.  Not one had ever seen anything like it and not one would allow their client to sign it.
• Seller's Agent: You are telling me you have never seen this type of language?!
• Me: (Thinking it was time to cut this off) I have never seen this in an accepted offer!  This is how I see it.  You have a seller who is motivated; I have a qualified buyer who wants to buy this home.  You just have to answer one question.  Are willing to step out of the way and let this sale happen?

He did and the sale closed.  I have since received referrals from my buyer's who love the home.

Many real estate companies are coming out with their company addendums.  I received an offer on a home I was selling that included a company addendum from a new real estate company I had not heard of. 

• I read their addendum.
• I made copies and past it around the agents and brokers in my office. 

Boy did we get a laugh.  It was three pages long.  It went line item by line item of the DROA with their definitions of what each part of the DROA meant.  It wasn't bad enough that the three pages were trying to change the meaning of the contract provisions.   That alone would have been enough to kill it.  It was worse than that.  Apparently who ever drew this up document had English as a second language and didn't know how to use spell or grammar check.  It had more typos and grammatical errors than you could count.  We countered the offer to remove the addendum and otherwise accept their offer.  It was accepted and we closed on that property.  

There were a couple of common elements in these two transactions. 

• In both cases real estate agents attempted to practice law.
• Neither were lawyers and neither had a clue about what they were doing.

And as you may have guessed I had to do a lot of extra work in those transactions.

I am sure you have good examples of messy contracts you have seen in the course of your travels.

I do a fair amount of business with young first time buyers.  Many are active duty military.  Working with young buyers can be a mixed blessing.

On one hand it is so rewarding taking a renter and making them a home owner.  The look on someone's face when I give them the keys to their new home makes what I do such a joy.

On the other hand you run into the occasional character that just makes you wonder about the future.                                                        

I had one client who was renting near my home.  He was an E-6 in the Military.  He had more than his share of toys; a pick-up, a car and three motorcycles.  Only he and his wife had driver's licenses so three of the five were parked at all times.  I forgot to mention that he had three young children.  As you would have guessed credit cards were run up and he had a couple of late pays on his credit.

The loan officer worked hard with him to get him approved for VA.  They had to write a few credit letters, etc.  He even got him to sell a motorcycle to pay off a couple of the small debts.  They were finally ready to go.

I made appointments to start showing them properties.  The day before we were to start the big search my buyer stopped over to my home to show me something.  He said you got to see what I got.  A Brand New Truck!

I almost lost it.  Trying to keep my composure I said to him casually, "so you've decided not to buy a home." 

He came back with the immortal words.  Oh, I still want to buy a home.  Is this going to affect the loan?

The good news;

When they left for their next duty station on the mainland they sold off all but one vehicle, paid down their debt and bought their first home.  I didn't sell them their home, but am happy I got them started down the path.  They occasionally send me updates.