Month: May 2015

Working with distressed properties has the potential to be an extremely lucrative area of specialty for any agent. There are some inherent difficulties, to be sure, and this is responsible for putting a lot of people off the idea of getting into the pre-foreclosure game in the first place. However, these complications are much easier to overcome than you might think. The fact that other agents are choosing to ignore the secret real estate goldmine is their loss – and your gain! Follow our shortcuts to learn how to make some serious sales.
#1: Inform Yourself
You shouldn’t be surprised to learn that owners of distressed properties might well be feeling pretty distressed themselves. They’re in a difficult financial situation, probably desperate for a way out, but they could also be very wary about making things worse for themselves. You could help them, but they need to trust you. How do you gain that trust? By knowing your onions!
Be able to explain to your clients all the options that are available to them. Make sure you understand the legal implications and requirements in your state so that the advice you give is rock solid. Having a team of experts at your fingertips is critical: attorneys, CPAs, loan managers, bank representatives etc. Remember that agents can be held liable for their advice, so you will be protecting yourself as well.
#2: Who You Gonna Call?
Once you’ve hit the books and have your side of things covered, start finding out what other professionals in your area specialize in other aspects of pre-foreclosure. There will likely be tax implications for your client, as well as complex legal ramifications, so it is highly probable that they will need to consult an accountant and/or an attorney before the process is through. Be all over this. You should be able to recommend the top guys in town, and ideally have a good working relationship with them yourself.
#3: The Right Buyer
Buying a pre-foreclosure property can be as much a specialized business as selling them. Pre-foreclosures will be most attractive to investors, since they will be the kinds of buyers with the capital to move ahead with a swift sale and the flexibility to allow the seller time to move out of the property. Start cultivating relationships with people looking for great deals to get a foothold in the investment property market.
#4: Get Prospecting
You need the best lead generation tools with the most reliable data and up-to-date information to start finding those listings. REDX provides consistent high-quality pre-foreclosure data and leads as well as the tools to go with them. Give us a call today to find out why REDX is the best investment you can make.

They may say that the biggest part of success is just showing up, but in real estate, the biggest part of making sales is being the first to show up, and having all the right information. Follow these three changes to your routine and start seeing differences in your sales.
Be the First to Know about Pre-Foreclosures
Short-Sales and Foreclosures aren’t going away anytime soon. Even with the precautions that banks are taking, they just keep popping up and you could be the first to know about it. The REDX pre-foreclosure product will draw from specific sources such as county records to compile Notice of Default (NOD), Lis Pendens, and Notice of Sale (NOS) properties and get you on the up and up faster than your competitors. Imagine receiving automatic notifications about these properties instead of researching yourself. The extra time you’ll save will leave you with invaluable time contacting property owners and listing them.
Be Ready to Pounce on FSBO Properties
With the vast majority of For Sale By Owner properties eventually turning to an agent for help to sell, knowing when the tides turn can get you there first. REDX For Sale By Owner Listing Leads does the work for you by scanning websites and databases to update you on all the new FSBO listings nationwide. However it doesn’t just put those in front of you, it also updates you on when the owners decide to scrap the idea of selling the property themselves, so you can contact them quickly about putting it into your capable hands.
Have Your Expired Leads Updated Daily
Instead of dreading having to spend time researching to update your expired leads, let technology do the job for you. Not only does REDX Expireds cross-check the MLS to determine if it has been sold or relisted, but it also provides the information that may be missing such as contact information, including phone numbers that may be in the National Do Not Call Registry. Once you have all the information, REDX Expireds will also organize all the data for you, and allow you to add notes, appointment reminders and route planning to get you prepared fast.
Keep Your Leads Organized & Searchable
Not having to remember key information about leads is critical. What homeowner mentioned they were getting a divorce, moving to Texas or accepting a new government job? Having your leads in one place with advanced search features so you don’t have to remember anything just type in the key words and you can find the lead. REDX Vortex has several advanced features to keep you organized.
In addition to advanced search, it also features the “Lead Progress Ribbon” where you can know at-a-glance what leads you have actioned and what needs to be done. Delegation to assistants is easy with simple tags. It is not enough to have leads – it is the lead follow-up that most agents lose the big money on their lead investment.
Whether you’re a real estate SuperStar, a rookie, or needing to revamp workflow, following these three changes will prepare, update, and alert you so you can get in front of more potential properties first and start seeing more sales.

Does this scenario sound familiar? You qualify as a realtor, you’ve got your smartphone, your gym membership, you have an aura of confidence and success. Then you get your first couple of listings. You help a friend find a new apartment, or maybe a relative buy their first home. You kill it, naturally, because you’re a real estate superstar, and so your friends and relatives pass your name on to their friends and relatives. You’re building a modest base of happy clients. That’s when things start to slow down.
Like death and taxes, the law of diminishing returns is a fact you can’t escape from. No matter how good you are, not every client will recommend you – maybe they’ve never had another realtor and don’t understand what a great deal you got them, or maybe they just don’t know anyone looking to move. Even if they do recommend you, that’s no guarantee that the people they give your name to don’t already have an agent they trust and wouldn’t dream of listing their property with anyone else. The phone isn’t ringing. Your budding career has stalled. You look around and you ask, “What happened?”
The answer, in a nutshell, is you’ve exhausted your sphere of influence. Not many realtors go into the game already knowing enough people to sustain their business solely by those contacts. Certainly, nobody becomes a top earner in the industry that way. You want to make more sales? You need to hunt down leads! There are some simple steps you can take to break your drought and get those leads flowing.
Prospecting for Beginners
One technique that will often yield good results is to start canvassing your neighborhood. Letterbox drops, door-knocking, and cold-calling is the most basic way real estate agents can go about finding people who might be interested in moving house. The problem with this method is it’s very hit-and-miss. You might get lucky and happen upon somebody who was just sitting around thinking about selling and only needed to meet the right realtor, but, let’s face it, this is going to be the exception, not the rule. Most of the time, the folks you talk to aren’t going ask you to sell their house for them right there on the spot.
Prospecting for Pros
There is a way, however, to find massive numbers of potential clients who are ready to list with you at a moment’s notice. At REDX, we generate the highest quality expired, FSBO, and pre-foreclosure leads available. Talk to us to find out how we can help you find more listings right away.

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the life of a real estate listing. Those who knew this listing know how humble its beginnings were, as were those of so many like it. There was a call from a homeowner to a realtor, and a realtor who came and knocked on the door. Then the lead became a listing, as many of them do, blossoming into sales, which is what we all hope for any listing. But not every listing reached this happy state. That is the sad way of the world. Sometimes a property won’t sell.
There are lots of reasons that this can happen. Sometimes the realtor who came through the door wasn’t the expert and professional like those of you who have come here today. Not everyone knows how to present and advertise a property to its best advantage, or how to negotiate a great deal with the buyers.
Sometimes there are other factors at work. It may happen that the homeowner holds an unrealistic hope of getting a certain price for the property and will eventually lose patience with the sale process. These things happen, and when they do, we lay the lead to rest with full honors, like the lead we salute today.
But smart agents do not mourn the death of a lead. They understand that the real estate market changes every day. They know that the difference between a sale and a fail can sometimes balance on a knife-edge, and that just because a property didn’t sell, doesn’t mean that it won’t sell. Especially if it’s taken on by an agent with real hunger and talent for the game. These are the agents who always ask the same eternal question on days such as these. “Where”, they ask, “do listings go when they die?”
The answer is: they come to us, REDX, where we have the highest quality data and the most up to date information on expired leads, as well as pre-foreclosure and FSBO leads.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. With the REDX, you’ll sell it. In that you can trust!

It’s a sad but true fact that many people have come to expect poor customer service as a part of doing business. So when a company or individual provides excellent service to their clients, they will pointedly stand out above the rest.
This applies to real estate agents in an even more dramatic way. Real estate is a people-focused business. As a Realtor, you are in a unique position to be part of one of the most significant financial and personal decisions that an individual or family makes in their life.
Selling or buying a home involves more than just a financial transaction. For those involved, it means a complete change in their lives. So how you serve your clients is an invaluable factor in whether your business succeeds or fails.
Be honest. Whether it’s fair or not, Realtors sometimes have a reputation for being less than ethical. Much of this comes from bad agents who give everyone else a bad name. Don’t be that realtor.
Be upfront with clients, including buyers, about every aspect of the sale. It is better to have a buyer walk away than to gain a reputation for being untrustworthy.
Communicate. Follow up with your clients after every showing or open house to give them feedback. Even if the news isn’t good, the faster you do this, the better. Use bad news as an opportunity to work with your sellers to improve the show-ability of their home. Provide staging tips and pointers that will increase their chances of success. Instead of being the bringer of bad news, you will be the hero that swoops in to save the day.
Exceed Expectations. Always do what you say you will do. If you can’t deliver on a promise, DON’T MAKE IT! Then try to find little ways to do more than what you said you would.
Send a thank you card, get back to them earlier than promised, go the extra mile. Find ways to do things your client isn’t expecting. The gesture might be small, but the positive impression it makes will be big.
Be personable. Friendliness is contagious. Who doesn’t prefer to work with someone they like? Get to know your clients. Ask them questions about their jobs, their families, what’s important to them. Not as a technique to find their pain points but just because you are interested.
Find things that you have in common with them. This doesn’t mean you have to create lifelong friendships with each and every client. Just make them feel that they are important. This will create the kind of loyalty and referral business that will pay you back ten times over in the future.
The bottom line. Customer service is, and always will be, the difference between a mediocre Realtor constantly fighting to find new business and one whose loyal followers provide return business and referrals on a consistent basis. Which one do you want to be?