Lucille M. Richmond

Associate Broker/Managing Partner

CENTURY 21 Select Group

Author –  Carla Cross

As the “new normal” real estate market begins to emerge, real estate coach, speaker and author Carla Cross offers tips for Realtors® to be successful. 

Cross, president of Carla Cross & Co. ^[1] in Washington and a frequent speaker at National Association of Realtors® (NAR) conventions, said Realtors® will have to pro-actively lead generate, have an active database and be practiced and packaged with good sales skills and presentations. Cross added Realtors® should devote more than 30 hours a week, coming to work every day to sell real estate because the consumer has rejected the part-timer. 

In addition, Cross said to thrive in the new market, Realtors® need to:

• Become early adopters. In this era of rapid change, Realtors® can’t afford to lag behind. If you’re still waiting for 2007 to come back, you’re going to have a long wait! Instead, list three things you’re going to do for the first time this year and put deadlines on them.
•  
• Work hard. It’s amazing that some agents think they can make lots of money but only work 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. four days a week (and no nights and weekends). In this new market, the person who doesn’t commit 40 to 50 hours a week can’t deliver what the consumer wants.  
•  
• Inspire trust. You can’t sell anything of value to anyone without inspiring trust in them. The California Association of Realtors®’ 2009 survey of buyers showed the overall satisfaction rating plummeted in just six years. We need to recognize trust in real estate agents has eroded greatly. As a Realtor®, you need to have specific actions to re-establish trust with your would-be and present clients. People are looking for someone they can count on and we’re in a personal service business. What we have to offer our clients is invaluable. Develop, nurture and value your trust quotient.

“This is an opportunity to take a fresh look at how you do business,” Cross said. “Re-commit to excellence and mastery and you will re-vitalize your career.”

CENTURY 21 Select Group hosted their Annual Awards Luncheon at the Lake Naomi Clubhouse Restaurant to celebrate the achievements of their agents in 2009.  It was a tough year in the real estate market and Maggie Flartey-Kaminski spoke of the resilience and strength of their agents who weathered the storm.  More than 25 agents were recognized for increases in production from 2008, an outstanding fete considering the down market.  In addition to the individuals who exceeded their prior production of 2008, the Hazleton Branch and the Brodheadsville Branch were recognized for increased production in 2009 over  2008. 

The individual award winners included Dot Gallagher, Pocono Lake – Top Listing Units Agent, Daniel Seip, Blakeslee – Top Closed Units Agent and Buddy Vail, Hawley, Top Closed Volume.  Janet Pottieger, Blakeslee – Top Referral Agent.  Team Van Hine was recognized as the top Listing Units Team.   Rose Sawyer was recognized for earning her Associate Broker license.  Hope Fogarty and Neal Van Hine were recognized for earning their Accredited Buyer Representation Designation. 

Maggie Flartey-Kaminski added, “The strength of our company is reflected in the achievements of our members.  All of the owners of Select Group are so proud of their associates whose sincerity, hard work and integrity allow the company to remain a leader in the Pocono Real Estate market and the real estate industry. ”

Vince Caputo of Century21 Select Group of Broadheadsville is embarking on a state of the art way to reach out to new clients and the community at large beginning February 11^th and every Thursday night there after with the airing of ?Pocono Homes Live? via the internet. Vince will host the LIVE call in show which begins at 7:00 PM. The hour and one half hour weekly presentation will combine live call in customers and online text chat panels giving all participants the opportunity to ask questions about area real estate issues or possibly building on a new buyer/seller/realtor relationship.

The communication between Vince and all new clients will be predicated on abiding with all Real Estate laws and required Consumer Notices and also be restricted to those who are not already working with a realtor. With that said, even those customers of other realtors can call in to obtain very general and non-specific answers to questions.

Vince will also have a guest speaker each week from area businesses who?s services closely relate to home ownership and maintenance. The guests will cover various topics including security, home renovation tips, energy conservation and mortgage and financing questions. The website can be accessed at 6:55 PM on Thursday evenings at

http://www.stickam.com/poconohomeslive 

 The live broadcast will begin promptly at 7PM. Feel free to log in at 

http://www.Stickam.com

 Anytime prior to the broadcast to obtain a FREE user screen name should you wish to use the online chat panels.  

( PA Lic# RS311561)

Add real estate as a medium for the growing trend of Internet scams.

Several Pennsylvania REALTORS® have recently discovered their names being used by Internet scam artists, particularly on the popular site Craigslist.com. The scammer often “adopts” a REALTOR’S® identity and uses it to trick unsuspecting consumers into sending deposits for apartment or home rentals.

The sophistication level of the scams continues to increase as these con artists lift property photos from the REALTORS®’ web sites, load them onto Craigslist and try to lure consumers into sending them deposits.

Nils Frederiksen, spokesperson for the PA Attorney General’s office, said, “The office has seen every form of financial scam more than double in the last two years. People are getting burned as both buyers and sellers.”

Fredericksen said if a REALTOR® is using the Internet to do business, he/she should make it a priority to find out what’s on the Internet about him/her. “These days you have to not only market your listings online but almost counter-market your information,” he said. “It behooves you to do a Google search on yourself to see if someone’s blogging about you or if someone is falsely using your name or information.”

Adding a watermark to photos, perhaps the REALTOR’s® web site, also makes it harder to use the photo illegally, Fredericksen advised. “You want to make it as difficult as possible for someone else to copy your information,” he said.

Fredericksen said if a REALTOR® suspects someone in his community is conducting this type of crime, they should contact their local law enforcement. Many times, however, this type of Internet crime involves people overseas and that makes it a federal crime.

If a REALTORS® discover their identity has been falsely used, they should file complaints with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C).

The PA Attorney General’s office tracks such crimes and REALTORS® may file complaints online or call 800-441-2555.

If it appears that an item posted for sale on Craigslist may be part of a scam, e-mail the details to abuse@craigslist.org including URL (or 10-digit post ID number) in the message. Craigslist advises contacting the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) online or at 877-382-4357.

The Lake at Wagner's Forest Park - A Private Conservation Community

 

 

Welcome to Wagner Forest Park
This is located in the heart of the PA Pocono Plateau. It is a conservation-oriented community dedicated to preserving the natural environment and wildlife of the area. To this end, Wagner Forest Park Association, Inc. is resolved to be a residential community for healthful and harmonious living with nature, for those seeking their quiet corner away from the social and recreational amenities not created by nature.

One of the Many Poconos Vacation Communities!

Amenities include:

• 1 Lake
• 1 Beach
• 1 Dam

I guess you know how much we are promoting Facebook, Linked-In and internet Social Networking.  For those of us that don’t want to spend our life on the computer, there must be an alternative.  And I am certain you’ve read some real estate articles that talk about getting back to basics. 

Where does all this fit together? 

I believe internet social networking may occasionally bring you a buyer or a seller.  It is also something that allows you to do it on off time, at home 

Then there is physical social networking.  This seems to be something we rarely hear about anymore.  Yet is an integral part of our business, always has been.  

 I have been pondering it and thought back to Brian McCardle when he worked out of the Blakeslee office.  Brian uses the internet minimally and rarely does social networking online.    However, while in the Blakeslee office, Brian was one of our top agents year after year.  (He is still doing well at the Hazleton location) 

Brian was never at home.  Brian spent little time in the office, usually in the evenings to do paperwork.  And he stopped taking floor time years ago.  

What is my view of what helped make Brian successful in generating sellers and buyers? 

He never had coffee from the office. He walked across the street to get a cup and talk to people.  He never brought a lunch or went home for lunch.  He ate out every day, not take out – but someplace where he could sit and talk to people.  If he wasn’t showing houses or listing houses, he was out looking at potential houses, knocking on FSBO doors, driving through neighborhoods, talking to neighbors.  Can you see a pattern here?  He got up, got dressed and went to work.  He didn’t do it once a day, it did it every day.  And he didn’t do it sitting at home or in the office.  

It is a tough year.  And I would like to suggest that you step up your networking a notch to get out and about and meet people.  

• Always wear career apparel with the company name or at least the name badge. 
• Get magnetic car signs.  You never know when you pull into a grocery store if the person parking next to you just found out they have to move and they need a Realtor. 
• Go to a different store at lease once a week in our marketplace – even if it is just to browse.  The dollar store, CVS, Aharts, Auto Supply Store, anyplace local. Be sure you have a magnetic car sign and a name badge on.
• At least one or two days a week, Get Up, Get Dressed and Get to Work – your workplace is the marketplace. Drive around to check out houses listed by the competitors – you might see a neighbor you can speak with. See a house that looks vacant, ask the neighbor about it.  
• Eat lunch out at least once a week, alone or with an associate.  Sit at a counter and speak with people.  Chat and Chew, Da’s Pub, Murphy’s Loft, Terra Cotta, Nick’s Lake House; not a take-out joint and not a private booth. 
• Continue to do your expired listings and FSBO’s on a daily basis, but maybe know on the FSBO door. 
• Join a group. Church Groups.  How about a charitable organization.  Business groups or your Realtor Associations.   

The bottom line is that sitting at home or sitting at your desk in the office is not putting your face in front of enough people.  This is a people business and without people there is no business