For Sales By Owner

Discover How to Sell Your House Yourself - The Essential Ingredients For Writing the Perfect Ad!

2009-09-05T02:14:00.001-07:00

You need to know how to sell your house yourself. Rather than stumping up a 7% realtor fee, you have decided to do it on your own! No matter what people tell you, it is very possible to sell your house yourself. You just need to make sure you have enough time to research everything thoroughly. Within this article, I would like to provide some handy tips on how to write your ad!

Advertising is the key to selling your house yourself. It doesn't matter how beautiful your home is or how wonderfully priced it is. If no-one knows your property is on the market, it will never sell. Whether you choose to advertise in newspapers, magazines, via leaflet drops or online you must have an ad that will grab people's attention.

Firstly is your headline. This should have some catchy phrases that will want to make people read the rest of the ad! Try things such as "priced for a quick sale", "the best school in the area situated nearby". Just be as imaginative as possible.

Next i would bullet point the things that prospective buyers need to know. Bedrooms, bathrooms, distinguishing features and size in square feet. The reason i say to keep this to bullet points is because people can easily lose attention when reading big, meaty paragraphs. So keep each point short and sweet. Also keep your emotions out of the ad, just state facts.

Finally you need some great photos of your property inside and out. If you are selling your house yourself and advertising online, you may even wish to consider a video tour. Photos should show your home at it's best, so take them on a sunny day. The brighter the photos, the more clean and well kept your home will look. Remove all clutter and things like the kid's toys and especially things that lurk on the top of cabinets, wardrobes and fridges, etc!

Selling without the aid of an agent is tough, especially during the current economic climate! If you desperately need to know how to Sell Your House Yourself then please read through my additional tips to get buyers literally flooding you with offers!

To learn exactly what others are doing in your situation then Click Here and grab your Free Report.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sam_Renstaff

Real Estate Attorney or Lawyer's Role When Selling FSBO

2009-08-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

The role that the Real Estate Attorney/Lawyer plays in the selling of your home by for sale by owner makes him/her a necessary addition to your team. Like any other aspect of the law, real estate law should be left to the professionals. Unless you are legally entitled to practice Real Estate law in your State/Province you need professional help. Below are some of the details that your Attorney/Lawyer will take care of.

Your Attorney/Lawyer will review the contract of purchase and sale and advice of potential problems. The seller is typically responsible for preparing the transfer, which is the document that transfers the title of the land from the seller to the purchaser.

They will review transfer documents received from the buyers lawyer, which includes the statement of adjustments which shows credits and debits for seller and buyer, for items such as purchase price, property tax, strata fees where applicable, water account, tenant rent or damage deposits, commissions to be paid to Real Estate Agents, down payment paid by buyer and transfer of title.

They will converse with the buyers Lawyer if necessary and resolve any problems or concerns regarding title issues and or accuracy of figures. Obtain a mortgage balance statement from the seller's mortgage lender to determine the amount necessary to pay and clear the mortgage balance on the day of closing.

If you are selling one property and purchasing another property with closings on the same day, you may need to arrange interim financing. This is a temporary loan to ensure that monies are in place to complete your purchase.

As you can plainly see the Attorney/Lawyers role is vital to the sale of your home. Make sure you have one on your team before you attempt to sell your property.

Hans Anderson is a Real Estate Investor, whose passion is helping people purchase their own investment properties. Visit: http://thetruthaboutforsalebyowner.com/index.php and http://realestateinvestingfacts.com/blog.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hans_Anderson

How to Sell Your House Yourself

2009-08-03T07:04:00.002-07:00

How to Sell Your House Yourself Tips on How to Word Your Listing Correctly to Motivate Your Buyers

If you want to know how to sell your house yourself, surely the current economic decline is making you worried. Recent expert analysis shows that house sales have dropped by over 10% in the last year. However, experts still believe there are plenty of eager buyers out there. It's just a question of attracting them!

In this article i will provide some of the key words and phrases that can get your listing noticed. This is paramount for those of you looking to sell your house yourself without the aid of an agent. There's no point in having a property for sale if you can't generate the right type on interest!

Always describe the property to the buyer's advantage. Phrases such as "good condition", "good buy" or "move-in ready" are known to make a difference. In actual fact, it has been found that property listings that included these phrases sold for almost 4% higher that those that didn't include these comments.

The words, "updates" and "upgrades" seem to also make a significant difference. Evidence shows that listings that used these words, sold approximately 5% more than those that didn't. Do not include the term "new paint" as this can have a negative effect on your listing. A realtor is likely to tell your buyer's that this may be to cover up something and perhaps the property doesn't have much else good about it!

Researchers have been quite surprised that the term, "motivated seller" actually delayed sales. The average house sale can take just over 3 months, but by including the phrase "motivated seller", it seems sales on average are taking up to 3 weeks longer!

When looking to sell your house yourself, it appears the phrase "handyman special" is proving popular. Rather than listing your property "as is", the handyman term sells far quicker!

Do you desperately need to know How to Sell Your House Yourself?

To learn what others are doing in your situation then Click Here and grab your Free Report.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sam_Renstaff

The Ultimate Guide Part Six - Negotiations

2009-08-03T07:04:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Part Six of FSBO: The Ultimate Guide. Let's dive right in and get started. The first thing for you to do once you have a written offer of interest from a potential buyer:

Get Yourself a Good Real Estate Lawyer

A very important ally for you to have during all your negotiations is to have a real estate lawyer. They will help you with all aspects of the contract and legal contracts, so you can't do without one. How to find a good one? Word-of-mouth is recommended here. Speak to as many people as you can. Someone you know is bound to have had a good experience with a professional real estate lawyer, and can advise you. If you can't find any recommendations, arrange appointments with several, and do your own research. See what your impressions are - it should be fairly obvious to you from your meetings how professional and keen for your business a lawyer is, and how you will get on personally.

Remember that there's no reason for you to feel intimidated by the looming prospect of contract and negotiations when selling FSBO. The real estate lawyer is there to help you with all legal technicalities and guide you through the process. Any questions or queries can be easily answered by them. The vast majority of sellers and buyers have no idea how to write up and create contracts - that's why you employ professionals for this job and to rely on them to keep procedures professional. The lawyer is very much part of your negotiations, and will give you all the advice you need.

When you advertise your property privately online, you may well receive calls from buyers who have employed agents to work for them. Remember to make it clear that your asking price does not include any commissions to be paid out - that is the responsibility of the buyer. Just make sure any offers from a potential buyer includes the amount they will have to pay their agent - this would all be added into the contract agreement. You may want to include a line in your listing: 'Asking price includes agent's finders fee of $400.' and add this onto your original asking price.

Buyer Financing

Before we agree to sell the property, we need to 'pre-qualify' meaning, can the buyer get financing for the deal? You may have agreed a price and everyone's happy, but can your buyer find the funds? Do they qualify for a loan? Your lawyer can guide you in more depth, and one of the major lenders will no doubt inform the buyer once they have applied if the financing can go through. As we said before, the sales price is important not just to you, but also to the loan company - if you have agreed a price that's too high, the loan company may be reluctant to lend.

Disclosure Documents

In some countries, Disclosure Agreements are required for selling properties. These are documents which advise buyers of any defects in the property, or anything that warrants repair. There are now laws which require sellers to 'disclose' any known defect in the property. You can talk to your lawyer about this, and they can supply you with the relevant material. It's sometimes wise to have a valuer come round, for a small fee, and inspect your home. They can check for any problems there may be with the property, and it gives you the opportunity to fix any problems that may become as issue at a later date in negotiations. You can make the report available to any buyers, who will no doubt appreciate your professional valuation and documents.

Offers on Your Property

When you have received an offer from a serious buyer in writing, and they have been pre-qualified for a loan, their offer will include the usual information: the offer price, what items are included in the sale of the property and any conditions you or the other party wish to include in the offer. You also have an acceptance period, traditionally around 1 to 3 days. You will review the offer with your lawyer and discuss your options. There may be items in the contract which you wish to change, and these changes will be represented as a 'counter-offer.' Your lawyer will produce the necessary documentation for this.

Remember also that buyers will inevitably offer slightly lower than your original price. Usually this is below your original asking price, but not so low as to offend or be ridiculous. If you want, you can negotiate from this initial offer to a middle-ground where you are both happy, and both compromise a little to reach an agreement. As we discussed in earlier parts of the guide, your own circumstances and 'bottom line' come into play here - as well as how much interest your listing and other advertising has generated. You never know - you may be dealing with multiple offers! The respective offers may go back and forth several times until an agreement has been reached.

If you have time on your side, perhaps you can afford to stick to the figure you want, or wait for someone to call you with the right offer.

You must be prepared to be patient and if you can, wait for the offer to come along that suits you.

Continue to read 'Part Seven' for more FBSO Top Tips.

Steven Reid
Head of Communication
http://www.sell-my-house-quick.com

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Selling FSBO

2009-08-03T07:03:00.000-07:00

1. Pay attention to the market! You stand a better chance of selling your home by owner at the price you want, if the current housing market is hot. Remember, if you sell in a hot market, you will most likely be buying in the same market. Make sure you respond quickly to offers and be prepared to be aggressive in your search for your next home.

In a weak market, your home may stay on the market longer than you originally planned. You are in essence in competition with other homes being sold in your area. Make sure you take care of all necessary repairs and consider taking back a mortgage (VTB-Vendor Take Back) if the market is really slow and you do not need all your cash immediately.

2. Never overprice in a weak market! Your selling price is determined by the current market not by an appraisal, nor by what you want or have to get out of the sale. If your house is not priced competitively for the current market buyers will be looking at other properties not yours. The longer your house stays on the market the greater the risk of incurring additional expenses such as carrying costs and upkeep.

3. Do not become a stale listing! The longer your home is on the market the less likely you are to get full price. If houses in your area are selling (especially by sale by owner) and you are not getting any serious offers, make changes! Re-think your asking price, offer incentives or make some improvements or repairs. Then make sure your changes are mentioned in your advertising.

4. If something needs to be fixed, fix it! Make sure you make all the necessary repairs even the little ones. They are most likely the least expensive of the repairs to fix. Do not think potential buyers will not notice the little things, they do. Little repairs can add up to look like to many repairs and turn buyers off.

5. If large repairs are necessary do them before your house goes on the market! - If this is not possible, adjust your asking price accordingly. You need to be honest and up-front with your buyer. If you try to hide large repairs you are going to get caught and lose the buyer and your time. In this business, time can certainly costs you money.

Hans Anderson is a Real Estate Investor, whose passion is helping people purchase their own investment properties. http://thetruthaboutforsalebyowner.com/index.php

http://realestateinvestingfacts.com/blog

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hans_Anderson

Top 10 "Insider Tips" to Sell Your Home by Owner!

2008-09-10T01:37:00.002-07:00

1. Get Your Home In Top Selling Condition: Clean your home to within an inch of it's life. Make necessary repairs. And de-clutter the entire house. Clutter is the #1 enemy of anyone selling a house. Invoke "The Rule of HALF". Clear off at least HALF of everything on kitchen and bath countertops. Half of all collectibles and family photos. Half of everything in closets (boxes, shoes, clothes, hats, belts). And then consider "HALF AGAIN"! Put them in storage. Next, consider removing some furniture. Most people move because they want more space. Make your home look and feel "spacious". Remember that "sparse" is better than "cluttered".

2. Set a Realistic Asking Price: The best way (and cheapest) to determine a reasonable asking price for your home is to call 3 real estate agents and ask each for a "CMA". Most every agent will offer to do a FREE "C.M.A." for you, which is a "Comparative Market Analysis". A CMA provides information such as what other homes similar to yours in size and location have sold for recently, the address of homes sold, original asking price, eventual selling price, and the number of days it was on the market before it sold. It's an invaluable tool for the by-owner seller.

3. Use Signs To Your Advantage: Signs sell more houses than anything else. Buyers see signs and follow them into neighborhoods they may otherwise have not known about. You need 3 types of signs. For Sale by Owner, Open House, and the little directional For Sale By Owner arrow signs. Put the large For sale By Owner sign out front of course. Put the Open House sign up every weekend. And the little directionals should go on every corner all the way back to the nearest main road to your house. And don't forget an "info box" for your flyers. You do have flyers, don't you? See tip #4.

4. Create a Sales Flyer That Sells: Here's what you need to put on your flyer. Asking price, Address, Directions from the nearest main road, number of bedrooms, number of full baths and half baths, schools (elementary, middle, high school), interior description noting any special features (vaulted ceilings, fireplace, etc.), exterior description noting special features (old oaks, landscaping, fenced), convenience to highways, shopping centers, malls, grocery stores, hospitals, etc. Your name, phone, and I'd suggest ... "Shown by Appointment"

5. Advertise Where Your Buyers Are Looking: Classified ads are usually a good investment. Local classifieds help get the word out to local readers as well as potential transplants who are actively seeking a home and searching for one in the "local papers" from the areas they're considering moving to. The 4 most important items that must be in the ad: Price, Location, Number of Beds and Baths, and Phone. Beyond that, if you have room, note any stand-out features such as: waterfront, on the golf course, mountain view, financing available, pool, acreage, etc., and you've got it!

6. Make Arrangements To Help Your Buyer Get Financing: This is something too often overlooked by sellers. Make arrangements with an independent mortgage broker to refer potential buyers to him/her for a FREE mortgage pre-qualification. (Don't call your local bank, or "big name mortgage" because they are limited to their own companies loan programs). A smart seller will even put "financing available" on their flyer and refer those asking about financing to the mortgage broker. Benefit to you? The mortgage broker can save you time and aggravation by telling you whether a potential buyer can or cannot qualify for a loan. And if your buyer goes through your mortgage broker, the broker can keep you "in the loop" during the mortgage process!

7. Set Up a Voice Mailbox to Take Calls When You Can't: Every phone call that comes in could be the one buyer you've been waiting for. Don't take the chance of missing any calls. When I was actively calling sellers, I was surprised by the number of sellers who didn't have voice mail or an answering machine. That means their advertising money was wasted. Don't let that happen to you. Be sure you're phone rings to an answering machine or a voice mail service. And it's always best to return calls as quickly as possible. You never know which caller will be the one who ends up buying your house.

8. Set Up Specific Times To Show Your House: I don't run to the house every time I get a call from someone who says they want to see it, especially since at least 1 out of 4 won't even bother to show up! It can be frustrating to say the least. I usually tell everyone they can "see the house on Saturday from 11 am to 2 pm or on Sunday from 1 pm to 4 pm". These are my "Open House" days. Showing the house only on these days helps me stay in control of my own time (and my sanity). It also has the advantage of creating somewhat of a "competition" among potential buyers that works to my favor.

9. Brush Up On Your Negotiating Skills: If you have to lower your price in negotiation, make your first price cut is the biggest, and your second price cut (if necessary) should be smaller still, so that your buyer knows you've gone about as far as you're going! And keep in mind that price is not the only thing you can negotiate on. Maybe instead of dropping the price, you might offer your buyer a home warranty instead. You also will want to consider what items you intend to might include with the sale of the house. Items such as the refrigerator, washer/dryer, patio furniture, closing dates ... all can be a part of your negotiation strategy.

10. Patience Required: Don't expect a whirlwind of activity the moment you put your For Sale sign out in the yard. Sure, you may get lucky and have the perfect buyer show up at your door within just days of your sign going up, but don't bet the farm on it. It's possible that it could take several weeks, or even 3 or 4+ months if you're in a slow moving market and you're trying to get a retail price.

Michael Hart is a former real estate agent and mortgage consultant, a private investor, and author of several articles and reports on real estate and real estate investing. He can be contacted through http://www.localinvestornetwork.com or http://www.pwrsll.com where his new report "How To Sell Your House Before The Next Payment Is Due!" is now available.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_E._Hart

For Sale by Owner - A Growing Trend

2008-09-10T01:37:00.001-07:00

In the recent past, more and more for sale by owner properties are being listed in the market and it is tough time for the real estate agents to sell properties at high commission. The sale of properties through real estate agents has come down and the prices of the properties are also showing downward trends. More and more house owners are looking for alternate options of selling their properties and FSBO (forsalebyowner) seems to be the best option.

FSBO is therefore a growing trend in the real estate market and it is the best option for you to sell the property without paying for the realtor's commission. For sale by owner properties are therefore economical for the buyer also as the buyer saves a huge amount which otherwise would have been paid to the real estate agent. FSBO property requires some sort of advertising so that more and more prospective buyers see your property and visit you for a negotiation.

For sale buy owner properties are not easy for a seller, as you must have some marketing skills so that more and more perspective buyers approach you. You need to advertise your FSBO property at suitable sites so that more and more visitors see your property easily. People want to see your property by just clicking their mouse, so it is mandatory to put photograph of your forsalebyowner (FSBO) property at as many sites as you can so that people from around the corner see it while sitting in front of their computers.

Although it is not an easy task to sell your FSBO property, however you should be optimistic and should use the latest techniques so that you get the maximum profit from your forsalebyowner house. More and more people in real estate market are now coming forward and would like to sell their for sale by owner property themselves. So, if you are also an owner of a house, you can also take opportunity to sell your house through FSBO and get the maximum advantage of the vibrant real estate market.

PostYourPad has the most listings on the Web for homes under $500k.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ashish_K_Arora

For Sale by Owner - Is it a Right Choice?

2008-09-10T01:37:00.000-07:00

Many times a property that is offered for sale by owner takes too much time for actual deal and therefore the owner looks for other alternatives and start searching a real estate agent. Therefore a big question before the owner is, whether forsalebyowner is a right choice? In my opinion FSBO is one of the best choice, however we need to focus some of the issues that dominate the real estate market.

In for sale by owner market, you need to be attentive and should use all means of advertisement so that more and more people approach you. It is necessary to improve the look and maintain the FSBO house well so that people get first positive impression about it and especially all broken glasses, doors and windows should be maintained well.

You should be committed that you will complete the deal forsalebyowner only and you will not deviate from your goal and will not approach to the real estate agents. Once you are committed and you have maintained your house in a good condition, you can suitably decide a price tag for sale by owner house. Before arriving at a price tag for your FSBO house, keep your margin so that while negotiating price you can lower the price and still can make the profit.

The next and most important part is the marketing of for sale by owner property to the large audience including perspective buyers of forsalebyowner property. You should not only use the conventional methods of marketing and advertising your for sale by owner property but also the latest communications techniques so that large audience see your house and large number of perspective buyers visit you for negotiation. You can list your FSBO house at top ranked websites, in local news papers, in local community centers and you can also display "for sale" in front of your house.

So, with marketing skills and patience, you will be able to sell your FSBO property quicker and faster, however remember that you spend a small amount for advertising and marketing of for sale by owner property.

PostYourPad.com has the most listings on the Web for homes under $500k.

Sell homes with 0% commission and deal directly with serious home buyers.

Buy or Sell Your Home at 0% Commission with FSBO site.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ashish_K_Arora

Sell My House Online

2008-08-12T22:45:00.001-07:00

Searching for the right estate agent when you have made the decision to 'Sell My House' is not as easy as you first think as the level of service and commission charges can vary greatly. With interest rates on the rise and the ever growing threat of property prices falling, more and more people are looking to get the maximum price when selling their own home. The average property price in the UK is now over £215,000 with estate agents charging commission between 1 and 2.5% plus VAT and these expensive fees can make a large impact on the profit you make.

There is now however an alternative way to market and sell you own home. With an estimated 75% of people now searching the internet for properties online using a specialised site designed to sell your house privately online is a great way to do this. This cut's out the estate agent and can save you £1000's on expensive commission fees.

Why should you make the choice to 'Sell My House Online' instead of using an estate agent? Because the vast majority of estate agents just send viewers round without accompanying them, leaving you to do the most important part of the process - actually selling your home to the potential buyer. Remember, estate agents are paid every time a buyer takes one of their properties, regardless of which property it is - your property is just one of many they can send the buyer to.

Many people market their houses privately as well as with an estate agent. If you do this, make sure the demarcation line is clear. If an agent can claim to have introduced you to a buyer, albeit indirectly, he is still entitled to his commission.You will need to check which type of agreement you have set up with your Estate Agent. If you have a Sole Agency Agreement you can usually sell your house privately without paying them commission. If you have a Sole Sale Agreement you may still be required to pay them commission if you sell your property even if they did not introduce the buyer. It is always recommended to check this before you market your property privately online.

Take responsibility for putting a realistic valuation on your house. You might like to get it valued by more than one estate agent but be aware they are competing with each other to get your business and there valuation may be higher than the current market value. You can check out the price of similar properties in the area by visiting the Land Registry site (www.landregistry.co.uk) to see what prices properties have fetched recently in your local area.

When you are choosing a site to advertise on browse the site for usability and look at the quality of marketing you are getting for your money. High quality images and an easy to navigate site that professionally markets your property will not only engage your customer's interest but also give them the confidence to pick up the phone and contact you about your property.

It used to be difficult to market your property as you were limited to newspaper adverts, for-sale signboards and word-of-mouth. Now you can use the internet to promote your property sale to anyone with Internet access across the UK and around the world. Making the decision to 'Sell My House Online' can save thousands of pounds offering an enormous advertising medium enabling you to expose and promote your property to a huge audience of potential buyers.

Paul Rice is an internet entrepreneur who own a number of prestigious Internet business' including an Award Winning Web Design & Development company, Ricemedia which is responsible for creating hundreds of UK sites. All of his experience and knowledge has been channeled into The House Sale which lets you 'sell my house online', making it one of the best private house sale web sites of our day.

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How to Write a Newspaper Ad For Selling Your Home

2008-08-12T22:45:00.000-07:00

Selling a home entails a lot of paper work from coming up with counter proposals, sales agreement to home warranties, appraisals and not to forget, print advertisements. Advertising your home is one of the most effective ways of attracting potential buyers and doing it the traditional way is still a tested and proven option. This means placing advertisements in local newspapers in your area.
Home sellers need to advertise their home to as many targeted home buyers as possible and the newspaper is a popular medium for doing this. Despite the entry of electronic media, it's still a preferred place to advertise a home for sale. In fact, even non-subscribers will normally get a copy of the Sunday newspaper to read through the classified ads.

In writing advertising copy for newspapers, there are some guidelines you can follow to succeed in attracting your target audience. Your newspaper ad has to be the hard-sell type meaning, straightforward and concise. Depending on your budget, you can either place a short ad or a longer one complete with a photograph of the home you are selling.

The headline itself should already grab attention. Determine the most important and attractive aspect of the home and describe them in short and catchy words. Some examples would be charming and spacious home, upscale urban condominium, beautiful secret garden and secluded hideaway. An example of a specific headline would be "Charming home beside a lake with pristine forest."

The copy or text of your print advertisement has to be attractive, of course. It should easily catch the attention of the reader and entice him or her to take action. Keep your copy short and direct to the point but never make the mistake of abbreviating words or using too many details in just three lines in order to save money.

In describing the home for sale, avoid too many specific facts especially numbers such as those pertaining to the house area or lot area. Instead, use general terms to relay the same message such as a large house or spacious living room.

Use descriptive adjectives to enable readers and potential buyers to picture out the home they could be living in. Describe the home's qualities such as its architectural design, layout and flow, special amenities and upgrades done, entertainment options and nearby attractions.

Remember to specify also the exact location, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the sales price and your contact information. Putting the price information on top of the ad is also a good way of attracting serious buyers. You can then mention if your price is negotiable or if financing is available. Some people forget these important details and as a result, just let a good opportunity pass up.

Advertising in a magazine has some drawbacks compared to newspaper ads. This option is not likely to produce an immediate buyer and may actually take your home several months before it gets results. Also, few people read their magazines again. Magazine advertising is ideal if you have a small target audience.

Your best option then is to combine newspaper classified ad with online advertising to reach as many buyers as possible. Keep in mind that your goal is to heighten people's interest in your home and make them look deeper into your offer.

LegalHomeForms.com - Download over 60 of the most used real estate contract and forms. Find forms like the quit claim deed, or offer to purchase real estate form.

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FSBO Marketing - The Dream Niche For Mortgage Brokers

2008-08-12T22:44:00.002-07:00

Apparently, I got on someone's e-mail list last week. I've been getting more and more of these e-mails buzzing about FSBO Marketing. Does it work? Can I really get loans by marketing to FSBO's? For those of you who don't know what a FSBO is - it's code for - For Sale By Owner. Now, most of the articles I write are written to Realtors. I believe Realtors came up with the acronym FSBO. My point is that FSBO Marketing has been around awhile. And it's just NOW that Mortgage Professionals all over the country are warming up to this Dream Niche. I personally have been marketing to this group for years now.

The only difference now verses back then is - we've created better mouse traps - so to speak. But, let me speak frank and talk to you now as a Mortgage Professional - who has 20 some plus years under his belt. When our market went BUST, you were faced with three choices you could make. The first choice - Get out, and many did and some still are. The second choice - Keep doing the same old thing, paying for internet leads... hoping that someone will want to refinance their mortgage. Or the third choice - Niche! Most of us realize that markets run in cycles. Back in the 80's - in the Retail Market - the BIG super stores like Wal-Mart and K-Mart came on the scene. Mom and Pop Stores were left with the same choices we now have. Get out of the business... get clobbered by the competition... or Niche. And so now we have retail stores like Victoria Secrets and Starbucks who have created a Niche.

Well, the Mortgage and Real Estate industries are no different. Right now, the Mortgage Companies and LO's that are having success are the ones that are knowledgeable in FHA products, VA loans, Jumbo Mortgages and Small Commercial to name a few. More importantly, they have Marketing Systems in place that promote themselves as experts on these particular products and programs. These Marketing Systems then create streams of revenue by focusing on relationships with different groups. It is there that they have created a Niche. They have carved out a segment of the population who they want to have a relationship with. Don't confuse products and programs with a Niche. Because look... we all know the Mortgage Professional who knows their products and programs inside and out but, doesn't have any business. Their pipeline is empty! They don't know when they will get another paycheck. They don't even know where their next deal is coming from. They spend 80% or more of their time physically doing the loan and 20% or less of their time marketing. This should not be so.

It should be the other way around. What does all of this have to do with FSBO Marketing? Everything! Here's why. It's not marketing, unless it's measurable. Unless you know where your home buyer leads are coming from. Unless you know how many home buyer leads will be there each week and each month. Unless you know how many of those leads it takes to convert or close a loan. Unless you know approximately how much you will make on each file... it's not marketing. So, a Niche is a group? A group of people that YOU want to have a RELATIONSHIP with. FSBO Marketing is more than just putting a sign in the yard that has a call capture number on it. It's about helping a home seller market their property. That FSBO, who YOU have built a RELATIONSHIP with... will soon become a HOME BUYER. And guess who will be in the front of their mind when it comes time to get a new house and mortgage? Is that why you call FSBO Marketing - The Dream Niche for Mortgage Brokers? Well, before I answer that, let me say this. I feel that every Mortgage Professional should be marketing to at least 4 - 5 groups of people. That's right! That way if one income stream dries up do to the market conditions - you still have 3 - 4 groups bringing you in income. Here are some ideas of groups that you may want to consider marketing to.

FSBO's, Realtors, First Time Home Buyers, Veterans, Military People, Newlyweds, Accountants and Financial Planners.

I personally market to Realtors all the time, because they touch about 80% of the market. To ignore this group would be marketing suicide. So, now let me tell you why I think FSBO Marketing is The Dream Niche for Mortgage Brokers. It is because YOU will be maximizing your marketing efforts by essentially working with 3 groups at once. Buyers Agents, because you now have the qualified home buyers... the home Seller, who will become a Buyer... and First Time Home Buyers. I have found that most buyers that look at FSBO's are First Time Home Buyers looking for that fantastic deal. Oh, and there's one other reason why it's the Dream Niche! My partner and I were just talking about it this very thing this morning. It's the fact that FSBO Marketing is one of the fastest ways to grow your database. I will have to talk more about that some other time. Until then, Niche!

Jim Eggers is an Author and the National Sales / Marketing Director for ByOwner247.com. He and his partner Chris Clements are FSBO Marketing Experts. They provide Mortgage Originators and Realtors with all the tools necessary to be successful at FSBO (For Sale By Owner) Marketing. You can get more information by going to http://www.UltimateFSBOMarketing.com or you may contact Jim directly at 239-878-7873 or by email at jim@ByOwner247.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Eggers

Flat Rate MLS - Using a Flat Rate MLS Service Will Save You Thousands of Dollars

2008-08-12T22:44:00.001-07:00

In order to sell your home quickly (or at all) you need to make sure it is positioned in such a way that it will be seen by as many buyers as possible. In order to do this your house must be listed in MLS (multiple listing service). One of the easiest and cheapest ways to do this is to go with a flat rate MLS service. There are several distinct advantages to using a flat rate MLS service over the more traditional methods.

First though, you need to understand how the MLS system works. A multiple listing service is basically an online compilation of property available for a specific region. Any home that is being sold through a realtor will be listed in that region's MLS. And, realtors are only going to show homes to their buying customers that are listed in their region's MLS. Therefore, if you want your house to sell you must be listed in MLS.

Unfortunately, the only way to get listed in MLS is by hiring the services of a real estate agent. You either have the choice of paying the real estate agent a percentage of the sale price or going with a flat rate MLS service that is going to allow you to pay a one time flat fee to get your house listed in your region's MLS.

Since most real estate agents charge 6% of the sale price in order to sell your home, the savings can be rather substantial when you go with a flat rate MLS listing service instead. Take for example a home listed at $300,000. When that home sells, the seller is going to pay his real estate agent $18,000 in real estate commissions. If you use a flat rate MLS listing service, however, you can get your house listed for only a few hundred dollars. Of course, if the buyer brings their own real estate agent you must still pay that agent their half of the commission (which is 3%), but that's still a savings of almost $9,000. Plus many flat rate MLS services even provide extras such as lockboxes, "for sale" signs, and contract forms. So if you want to sell your home on your own and you actually want your house to sell, research some of your local realtors that offer a flat fee service.

If you want to get your house listed in the Mid-Florida Regional MLS using a flat rate MLS service then make sure to call Tanya Waxler from uKeepCommission Real Estate. Tanya offers the best flat rate service and pricing anywhere and includes lockboxes, "for sale" signs, and all contract forms. For more information on how Tanya Waxler and uKeepCommission Real Estate can save you thousands of dollars visit http://www.uKeepCommission.com or call 941-465-9207.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tanya_Waxler

Common Commercial "For Sale by Owner" Mistakes

2008-08-12T22:44:00.000-07:00

Due to our commercial for sale by owner, co-marketing program, we witness many commercial property owners market and go through the "process" of selling their buildings, without the aid of a real estate broker. Although the experience can be painful, selling on your own is doable; especially if you know what you are doing.

Below are a few of the common mistakes we see owners make.

Over Pricing Property

Over pricing the property is a huge deterrent and major common mistake that sellers make. Most buyers that feel a property is over priced quickly move on. Serious buyers normally inspect many properties and learn market values. Sellers often think that if a buyer is interested, they will just submit a lower offer; that idea rarely works.

Many sellers are simply unrealistic and fail to do their homework on value. Getting "comparable recent sales" information is needed. Understanding the income approach to value is also critical. Hiring an appraiser is the most reliable and accepted way to determine market value. Information on other buildings sold in your city can be found at the assessing department as well.

This is a painful point for many sellers if they have put a lot of money into a property. Especially for owner occupants (Business that own and operate out of the building). The hard fact is that it is very possible to over improve a property.

We see owners try to sell on their own for many months, carry the costs of ownership, give up, then list with a broker - only then to lower the asking price.

Lack of Knowledge on Handling Paperwork.

Selling a property, especially one with issues (environmental concerns, title issues, zoning infringements, etc.) can be complicated. The paperwork can be intimidating and needs to be done correctly. Not knowing how to handle the paperwork will quickly kill any potential deals.

The buyer needs confidence that they can successfully close, without violating any laws or creating long term legal issues. Not teaming up with professionals to help with the details can be a mistake.

Putting the Property Under Contract without Pre-Screening (Pre-Approving) the Buyer First.
We have seen much wasted time and effort on buyers that could never qualify for a loan in the first place. It is a needless mistake.

Sellers are anxious that they have an offer and want to move forward. They put their property under contract with the buyer, taking the building off the market (perhaps missing a legitimate buyer) and incur the carrying costs while they wait (often for several months) for the buyer to perform its due diligence and obtain the needed financing. Only later to learn that the buyer could never have been qualified in the first place.

Besides the frustration of this scenario there are legal issues (risks) and costs of putting your property under contract as well. Although there will always be risk of losing buyers (for many reasons), you can avoid this one by requesting that your buyers books are reviewed and receiving "pre-approval" letters from finance companies.

Not Being Accessible

Pretty simple, buyers are demanding, forgetful and busy. If they try to schedule an appointment to inspect your property and you can not accommodate their schedule, or return their calls, they'll give up and move on to the next facility.

Property not Presentable

Common sense stuff here as well but we see many owners fail to clean the facility adequately and or not having basic components of the building functioning (Roll up doors, broken windows, HVAC units, alarm systems, etc.).

Unrealistic about Marketing

Simply having a sign on the front of the building is not enough. Perhaps one of the neighboring businesses will be interested, but counting on that alone will probably be a mistake - resulting in increased marketing time and thus increasing your carrying costs. The idea is to maximize your buildings exposure to get it in front of as many buyers as possible.

Listed are some creative marketing ideas we have heard other owners successfully implement:

• Mailers/postcards to local tenants in your area, in your building type (office, Industrial, etc). Real estate brokers sometimes do this; list is typically 500 - 1000 names.

• Internet marketing. It's been estimated that 75-85% of all buyers now start their search on the internet.

• Professionally designed exterior signs. This is a way to build credibility with potential buyers.

• Professionally designed feature sheet. Also a way to build credibility and highlight the key features and information they need to be able to qualify a building for their use.

• Classified ads in local paper. You can take it a step further and advertise in trade journals especially if you have a "special use" building - restaurants, medical facility, etc.

• Referrals - Informing the professionals you hire and work with can be effective way to get the word out. Accountants, lawyers, etc. typically know of other businesses that need space.

• Teaming up with industry professionals (title companies, finance companies etc.) that can help with the various details will assure you of the best possible chances of successfully closing the sale of your facility. It's their business to know the market and know how to get it done.

Building not Salable, from the Beginning

Many owners fail to recognize issues with their buildings that may hinder or otherwise make it impossible to sell and or to finance the property.

Environmental issues can dramatically complicate a sale and may eliminate the possibility of conventional financing. Although there continues to be changes in legislation, governmental financial support, and clean up techniques, the costs and time frame of selling properties with environmental issues is significant.

Structural and or building condition is another issue. Roofs are a typical example. The costs of repairing or replacing roofs can jeopardize the financial ratios and cash needed to close. Often lenders will not release funds until repairs are completed as well. Determining who will pay for the costs is often a sticking point. Perhaps neither the seller or the buyer has the additional cash.

Structural issues can be a more serious problem and often completely eliminate the possibility of conventional financing.

Title issues are another problem and can make financing all but impossible.

Building owners can be prepared to deal with these issues by resolving them before putting the property on the market or by having adequate information (For example, repair estimates, phase one completed) on hand before attempting to sell the property and adjusting the sale price accordingly.

Commercial Finance Advisors offers a (free) co-marketing programs with building owners. For example, we promote properties online, produce flyers and send out mailers to local business's, etc. More information can be found at http://www.cfa-commercial.com

Rauth is President of Commercial Finance Advisors, Inc out of Bloomfield Hills, MI. He specializes in Commercial Real Estate Loans between $100,000 - $5,000,000. Offers unique loan programs such as Commercial 30 Year Fixed and 90% non SBA, financing. He can be reached at 248 885-8797. SBA 7a Loan or Commercial real estate loans.

cfa-commercial.com/commercial-loan-rates.html - Commercial Loan Rates

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeff_Rauth

Opening a Dollar Store - Set Sales Goals for Success

2008-02-14T01:07:00.000-08:00

Every business faces challenges. For most retailers one of the biggest challenges is consistently growing store sales. Those who are opening a dollar store face the same test. Long term growth in sales determines the success of the store. In fact long term growth in sales is a key ingredient in determining survival of the business.

Most entrepreneurs who are opening a dollar store may be unsure of the right sales levels for their store. Further many don’t know where to look for information so they can establish realistic sales goals for their business. They ask what levels are too low, and what levels are too high.

One of the easiest and yet most effective methods for understanding what might be possible is to benchmark others in the industry. Benchmarking is simply examining aspects of businesses that are most successful in your industry. If you are opening a dollar store remember that benchmark data can be used for much more than just determining sales level targets.

Start by identifying 2-5 of the top performing businesses in your industry. Much of this data can be gathered from industry organizations or directly from data that is published by these firms. If you are opening a dollar store be sure that you gather this data as a part of your pre-opening work.

Be sure that you don’t ignore the best dollar stores in your local area as well. Often a local business owner will be willing to share not only basic business results, but also strategies that you can use to start your business on the road to achieving those same results. Many remember when they were first opening a dollar store and want to help others to avoid the land mines that they found the hard way.

If you are opening a dollar store be sure to establish long term goals that compare to the best of the competition. Follow that by establishing short term goals that move sales in that direction.

Residual Income Investments

2008-02-14T01:05:00.000-08:00

Two financial terms that are often times confused with one another are residual income investments and passive income investments. The different between these two terms is fairly easy to explain. First passive income is generated without any effort, or very little effort, from the investor. On the other hand, residual income is generated from the efforts initially invested by the investor.

Real estate investing can produce both residual income and passive income. If you want to make residual income investments in real estate then you can buy a property and then sell it with owner financing. This means that instead of making the buyer get financing through a bank you will agree to carry the contract and they will then submit to you monthly principal and interest payments. These payments are considered residual income. On the other hand, if you want to generate passive income from real estate investments then you can invest in trust deeds. Trust deeds are basically private mortgage loans. This investment activity is passive because you don’t have to actively participate in the management of the account to make money.

If you are interested in a business opportunity to make residual income then you can look at entering into a sales company that offers residual income on the sales made by the people that you sign up under you. For example many door-to-door sales companies pay their sales team a commission on what they make as well as a smaller commission on the amount of sales generated by all of the people who were signed up by the salesperson. Passive income can also be generated from business opportunities. However, for tax purposes the passive income cannot be derived from the active participation in a business, nor can it be derived from interest, capital gains, or dividends.

How Do You Value Your Limited Resource of Time?

2008-02-01T05:37:00.000-08:00

Are you worth $100 an hour as a small business owner or solo professional? Then why are you still doing those tasks that cost not only far less hourly, but are restricting your ability to increase sales?

Recently in speaking with the Chief Executive Office of a well established marketing firm, I was listening to all of his challenges. He needed a salesperson, but that would require him spending time he did not have to train that person. He needed an administrative assistant, but that would require him spending time training that person. He needed to improve his great team to take the company to the next level.

When I asked him what his greatest strength was, he replied relationship selling. And then I asked him what it was costing him by not selling and taking care of administrative tasks? A lot was the reply.

However from a strategic position, he believed that hiring a salesperson was his first action step. My sense was that this very creative person needed to hire the administrative person because this CEO like many entrepreneurs did not like to release control.

Since this company had sales coming in, revenue was not the problem. The real problem was the CEO's reluctance to let go. Until this individual recognizes that he was the problem, the company will truly never reach that next level of success.

As the small business owner or CEO of an expanding business, if your time is worth $100 per hour, then why are you investing your time doing work that you can pay someone far less? Initially, this does require some out of pocket expenditures, but the increased sales that you can bring to the increased work productivity is well worth the investment.

Take some time to determine your value and then take action to truly leverage that value. You will not only increase sales, but potentially reduce your daily frustration and stress levels. And we can all live with less stress can we not?

What to Look for in Home Owner Insurance

2008-02-01T05:35:00.000-08:00

What do you need to find in a home owner insurance? Of course, the home owner insurance you should choose is supposed to meet all your needs. You should take time as home owner insurance shopper so you can get the most out of the home owner insurance you can get. By choosing carefully which one is the best for you, it will give you the satisfaction you need in purchasing home owner insurance.

The home owner insurance has been around in long time. It gives us clue on how the concept of the home owner insurance works. The more you have the knowledge on how it works, the more you will know what to look for in a home owner insurance company. For you to be in touch with all the possible home owner insurance company, you need to collect all the needed information so you can choose from them.

It is also important for you to have the important knowledge about the policy of home owner insurance. The time that your home exists will be the important tool in your purchase. The longer that your house exists the lower the price of the claim will be. It is because your house might have acquired deficiencies.

Find the home owner insurance company that has reasonable claim and very low monthly fees. There are companies that offer the same rate but give claim more than what the others can give.

If you have an old house, you should try the market for old home. There are specific policies for it. This is more famous by the name market value policies.

If you own a new house, you better have it in the replacement cost policy. Even houses that are under reconstruction can also be an entry for it. The replacement value of both is almost the same.

The age of your home and the market value of it will always be determined by the home owner insurance policy. The price deduction of both new and old houses is almost the same. They will be supplying both types of homes with gadgets that can prevent its loss such as, deadbolt locks, fire extinguisher and many more. Alarms and fire suppressors are also included in the whole package.

Other materials needed to secure the house have piles of discount so you will not spend much on your home security devices. Before purchasing home owner insurance, check the policies to insure that they give these benefits in real time.

9 Secrets of Successful Shop Management

2008-01-30T00:05:00.001-08:00

Profitable shops are profitable for a reason. Often times it may seem like magic, however to those ‘in the know’, it’s just good old fashioned common sense…

Here are 9 of the most common sense ‘secrets’ to successful shop management:

1. Ensuring Sufficient Capital

The number one reason for business failure is running out of money. Smart shop owners crunch the numbers before starting their venture or expanding one. They take a hopeful, yet realistic view of the way things might play out and ensure sufficient money to cover the lean periods.

2. Accounting For Your Business

Smart shop owners know that the numbers speak volumes. They regularly visit with, and discuss details with their accountant. They monitor their bank accounts closely and keep track of their accounting systems. If they’re running a computerized system, they don’t rely blindly on the computer systems and have various checks and balances in place to validate the data.

3. Buddies With The Bank

The smart shop owner knows that the time to forge strong and positive relationships with the bank manager is before they need the bank’s services. They also realize that this pre-emptive approach allows them the chance to present the best image to the bank manager prior to any future meeting. Bank managers can sense financial distress and without any prior history for them to recall, the meeting may well not go as expected.

4. Forging Intelligent, Selective Alliances

In business there is the generally accepted rule that “many hands make light work.” Conversely “too many cooks spoil the broth” and unless some care and consideration is taken when working together, the careless shop owner may end up with more trouble than it was all worth. A smart shop owner knows that although a ‘friend’ might be an easy hire or an easy business partner, they may not be the best choice in the long run.

5. Keeping A Close Eye On The Competition

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer… Okay, a little ‘cloak and dagger’ maybe, but the smart shop owner knows that knowing oneself is only half the battle. A smart owner also keeps a very close watch on their competition. They realize that competition is good for business – not bad, and that healthy competition stimulates business rather than repressing it. Also, the smart shop owner knows that by watching their competition they can learn their business strategy, their sales strategy, their pricing strategy, their advertising strategy and whole lot more.

6. Paying Their Taxes

The smart shop owner pays their taxes. They accept that it is part of business and factor it in to their overall business model. Instead of focusing on clawing back a few pennies here and there, the smart business owner focuses on building more wealth, they have a positive viewpoint not a negative one.

7. Managing Their Cash Flow & Receivables

Just as ensuring sufficient capital is necessary to start or grow a business, sufficient capital is required to operate a business. Smart shop owners know this and keep a very tight reign on their receivables. Smart business owners know that sales do not necessarily equal financial success - collecting the payment for those sales equals financial success.

8. Diversifying Their Risk & Exposure

The ‘never put your eggs in one basket’ is second nature to the smart shop owner. They diversify their risk and their revenues wherever possible. The smartest shop owners realise there is a situation they need to avoid called “effective control”. This is where a single revenue stream becomes responsible for more than 15% to 20% of the overall company revenue. In this instance the control is no longer in the hands of the shop owner, but in the lap of the client!

9. Intelligent & Results Oriented Marketing

Smart shop owners know that throwing advertising ‘out there’ is not the way to go. They know that advertising is all about sales and that all advertising is really just like a paper-based sales person. Ultimately this silent salesperson is accountable and responsible and the smart shop owner manages it that way.

Ohio Home Owner Insurance Quote

2008-01-30T00:04:00.000-08:00

Ohio residents looking for home owner insurance quotes are wise. Whether your home is a modest two bedroom with one bath, or a grand five bedroom with three and a half baths, your home is an investment. You saved the money to purchase it, even if you did need the help of a loan. You moved yourself, your family, and possibly your pets into what might be the center point for the rest of your life. You want the best for your home, from home décor to home protection. That is why wise Ohio residents purchase home owner insurance.

Read over these frequently asked questions about home owner insurance quotes and policies in Ohio.

What determines my home owner insurance quote?

Many factors go into determining your home owner insurance quote in Ohio. To start, your credit and claims history will be considered, as will the age and condition of your home. The home’s location is always a factor, as homes in some areas are considered a high insurance risk.

Of course, the amount of coverage you want, as well as how high of a deductible you are willing to pay, go into determining your home owner insurance quote in Ohio, too. The higher the deducible, the lower the premium

Where should I shop for my home owner insurance quote in Ohio?

To date, there are over 100 insurance companies legally allowed to sell you a home owner insurance policy in Ohio. Stick with them. Ohio’s Department of Insurance lists them for your convenience. Find out the companies’ ratings, too.

Once my home is insured, I’m set, right?

Sure, as long as you make your home owner insurance payments on time, Other tips include not filing too many claims (home owners know the difference between a tree soaring into your living room via your roof and a loose door handle), and keeping your home in excellent condition with faithful maintenance.

How to Get a Book Published - How Do Book Publishers Get books into the Bookstores

2008-01-29T04:55:00.000-08:00

How to get a book published is just one of the tasks authors face. How do books get in the bookstores?

After the literary agents, book editors, and the marketing departments at book publishing houses have all made their decisions about what will be published, in what quantities, and how the finished product will look, there is one final decision maker who ultimately decides what books will be presented for sale to consumers: The buyer for the bookstores.

The decision maker for the independent bookstores is often the owner, or the owner and several employees. The chains have corporate buyers who specialize in different areas. The buyer looks at the prior sales history of the author, or if it is the author’s first book, the buyer will look at similar titles or topics. Of course the books publisher's sales rep lets the buyer know of the marketing push the title will receive from the book publisher.

If advanced reading copies are available or galleys – the uncorrected page proofs of a book, these are sent by the book publisher to the chains and major independents three to four months prior to the title’s publication date.

Booksellers usually buy their first order of a new title from the book publisher through their sales reps. Subsequent orders can be placed directly with the book publisher or through a wholesale distributor, which allows the bookstore to batch their orders to several different book publishers and receive one invoice and make only one payment. It also allows the bookstore to return books from different book publishers to one place –the wholesaler.

The decisions book buyers make about what titles to stock are a blend of taking into account the sales pitches from book publishers’ reps, historical sales data they have collected about an author or a topic, knowledge of their customer base—and to a large extent simply what their gut instinct tells them will be popular.

Keep Your Sales Pipeline Full To Sell More

2008-01-29T04:53:00.000-08:00

Let's say you are a salesperson, it's mid-month, and you've already hit your sales quota. You're going to have a killer month with your sales. Should you sit back and coast for the rest of the month?

Many salespeople do just that. But you shouldn't. You should keep your sales pipeline flowing at all times, during good months and during bad months.

If you are in the sales industry, B2B or B2C, you know that it is very typical for a salesperson to follow-up a great sales month with a lousy one. And, it is, most of the time, due to the reason above; when they know that their month is going great, they tend to slow down for the remainder of the month. When they slow down, they stop prospecting, and in return, stop generating sales leads.

The sales leads that you receive today are the closed sales of tomorrow, next week, and next month. If you are not constantly feeding your sales pipeline, that sales pipeline will eventually dry up. So the lack of sales prospecting in the latter part of a great sales month will result in less closed sales in the following month.

This is a cycle that tends to repeat itself month after month; A great sales month is followed by a bad sales month, and vice-versa. In order to sell more you must be constant in your effort, no matter what is happening in the current month.

Who Can Benefit from Affiliate Tracking Software

2008-01-07T05:54:00.002-08:00

When it comes to affiliate programs and affiliate tracking software, a large amount of focus is placed on business owners. This is because business owners are the ones who decide to start an affiliate program and use an affiliate tracking service. While business owners may be able to benefit the most from affiliate programs and affiliate tracking software, they are not the only ones who can. In fact, affiliate programs and tracking software not only benefit business owners, but affiliates as well.

An affiliate is a term that is used to describe webmasters, web publishers, and website owners. When they enter into an affiliate program, they are often referred to as an affiliate. The job of an affiliate, when it comes to affiliate programs, is to help increase the revenue of one of their partner sites. This is done by placing advertisements, such as banners or links, on their website. Each time those advertisements are used to generate a sale; the affiliate will be compensated for their work. This compensation is often a percentage of each earned sale.

An affiliate will benefit from participating in an affiliate program because they have the ability to earn money. In fact, that is how many webmasters, web publishers, and website owners make most of their money, by participating in an affiliate program. Unfortunately, an affiliate program cannot successfully operate without affiliate tracking software, so, in a way, this means that affiliates will also benefit from the use of this important software. Without affiliate tracking software, it would be difficult or impossible for each business owner to know where their sales came from. Without known this proper information, affiliates would not be compensated for their work.

As previously mentioned, a business owner, otherwise known as a merchant, can also benefit from the development of an affiliate program and affiliate tracking software. Perhaps, the greatest benefit comes from the development of an affiliate program. Affiliate programs are designed to help increase business sales. By partnering with a website owner, webmaster, or web publisher that has an online website, that is in one way or another related to yours, you may notice a steady increase in your online website’s traffic. If your website sells merchandise or services, you may also notice an increase in your sales.

Affiliate tracking software is important for business owners because it allows them to successfully operate an affiliate program. With affiliate programs, you need to be able to know when one of your affiliates helped to generate a sale. It is also important to know which affiliate that was and how much the sale was worth. This information is important because it will make sure that you properly compensate all of your affiliates. Without an affiliate tracking software program you would be unable to do this. If you tried without software, it is possible that you would reward the wrong affiliate or not even reward one at all. This is the quickest way to spend your affiliate program downhill; therefore, affiliate tracking is extremely important, if not necessary.

As you can easily see, affiliate programs and affiliate tracking software do not just benefit one type of individual; they benefit a number of them. Whether you are a business owner, looking to increase your sales, or a website owner, webmaster, or web publisher, looking to make extra money, you can thank affiliate tracking software for giving you the opportunity to do so.

Ten Effective Ways to Capture Market

2008-01-07T05:54:00.001-08:00

1.Evaluation of Existing Products / Therapies

2.Assessment of New Products

3.Market assessment of products for the defined markets of

BF- RoW with the objective of providing insight and direction

for short term and long term business planning.

4.Planning of the required Sales Force according to the ROI

5.Optimize field sales force by providing motivational seminars and sales techniques.

6.Enhancing in Hospital, In Clinic Effectiveness of the field force by introducing highlight points to be emphasized upon.

7.Sales force management through Training, Monitoring & Appraisal, and implementing promotional strategies for products and Incentives for the sales force.

8.Integration of Sales and Marketing Efforts by sending out Direct mailing to the customers or offering them a special promotion on the products and to schedule and conduct a special seminar for a group of physicians.

9.Devising methods for developing and managing a geographic territory; to prepare sales, marketing, and support professionals on how to better leverage their time and resources to drive maximum revenue from the territory (TMP).

10.Boosting Enthusiasm and motivation of the field sales force by sponsoring personality development seminars and sales and marketing seminars.

Fame and fortune: Klegg Electronics owner links with celebrity to compete with industry giants

2007-04-24T22:48:00.002-07:00

When Paula Abdul handed out Klegg Minis to audience members on The TonyDanza Show in February, she did more than put the smallest color-display MP3 player into the hands of eager recipients. The American Idol diva put the spotlight on a product developed by a black-owned firm.

The brainchild of Dennis Gentles, the Klegg Mini has appeared on CBS and NBC, on VHI's The Fabulous Life (on which Abdul performed while holding the MP3 player) and at the Virgin

Megastore in Times Square (where it was the focus of a three-day promotional event).

So what's the buzz about, you ask? Well, it's all over a 1.8-by-l.6-inch MP3 player that holds up to 250 songs and 10,000 images. It sells for $49.99 to $99.99, depending on memory size, via the company's Website (www.klegg.com) and at select retailers. The product was developed and manufactured by Las Vegas-based Klegg Electronics Inc., which Gentles, 32, launched in 2003 with $70,000 of his own money. In addition to MP3 players, the company's consumer products line offers slim-line televisions and high-end home theater systems.

Klegg's current product lineup includes the M6 501 surround-sound home theater system, the KP line of plasma televisions, the R6150 and R6110 LCD remote controls, and the C7 and I9 in-wall/ceiling speakers. Using technology and aesthetics as a foundation, the firm's engineers have designed a home theater system with speakers that are only slightly larger than a credit card yet powerful enough to provide "thunderous but precise base resolution," explains Gentles.
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The 13-employee company got its start as a distributor for a European-based consumer electronics brand, which Gentles later purchased and brought to the United States. Having previously run a computer consulting firm for 10 years, Gentles says his dream was to build a business that could bring consumer electronics products together in a seamless fashion through home networks and similar systems.

Working with a third-party marketing firm, Gentles set out to find a musically-oriented spokesperson who could spread the word about the Klegg Mini. Abdul's association with American Idol made her the perfect choice. Gentles offered her a combination of company stock and cash in exchange for touting the product in the national media, on the company's Website, and in other venues.

Currently, 24 dealers distribute Klegg's products nationally. In addition to high-end dealers such as Sound City, new retailers include Speaker City in Burbank, California, and Audio Vision in San Francisco; HomeTronics Lifestyles in North Haven, Connecticut; Summit Sound in Bangor, Maine; and TV Specialist Inc. in Salt Lake City. Gentles hopes to increase the number of dealers to 65 by the end of the year, and Klegg has just closed on a deal to sell the Minis at Tower Records.

Company sales have grown from $240,000 in 2005 to an expected $1.5 million this year, and several new products-engineered around marketplace needs and an aesthetically-pleasing design--are in the cards, including media server products. Gentles also plans to open retail stores that would focus on custom home installations for consumers.

Knowing the potential of the MP3 market alone, Sean Wargo, director of industry an@is for the Arlington, Virginia-based Consumer Electronics Association, sees potential for small firms that can rise above the noise generated by Apple's iPod. Sales of portable MP3 players more than doubled in 2004 to nearly 7 million units, accounting for $1.2 billion in revenues, according to the CEA. "Those brands that harness the opportunity and offer targeted products to a specific consumer group will definitely find opportunity in this growing market," Wargo says

Do You Have A Sales Prevention Department In Your Company?

2007-04-24T22:48:00.001-07:00

Back in the February 1994 issue of Telemarketing magazine (the parent publication of this magazine), I wrote an editorial with the above title. Since then, I have received several inquiries about this very important topic. In fact, as recently as last week, we had yet another request for a copy of this editorial.

Based on the extreme importance of this topic, I decided to revisit this matter and expand upon it with greater detail.

Most Companies Have One, But They Don't Know They Do

As I have indicated in my editorial in 1994, many companies actually have a sales prevention department, but they are completely unaware of this fact. When I say "sales prevention department," I don't mean that these companies literally have a separate department with that tide. However, the regular violations of certain important rules that I have indicated in this editorial actually constitute a cancerous problem within many companies.

Sales And Marketing Are Everything In Every Company
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As you may know, I have been a student of marketing for the last 25 years; in fact, we do have a marketing test at TMC that 99 percent of the marketing managers who have taken it have failed. In my view, the test is a simple one and contains the basic knowledge that every true marketing manager must possess. There is no point in hiring a marketing manager who cannot even define marketing. In many of my previous editorials, I have elaborated on this topic, as you may know.

In many companies, the sales department is regarded as die most important department in die company. Of course, here at TMC, we do not subscribe to this thinking because we feel that every department is equally important. Having said that, my frequent associations with many CEOs within our industry and elsewhere have led me to believe that most companies, in fact, consider the sales department one of the most the important, IF NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT DEPARTMENT.

In my way of thinking, this is not true. I feel that if you are going to rank the departments, marketing should come ahead of the sales department. Here is why:

All Sales Begin With A Sales Lead

As I have indicated in several of my past editorials, one of the paramount responsibilities of the marketing department is to create awareness about the company, articulate the benefits of dealing with the company and highlight the company's differentiation from its competitors. The cumulative results of the above mentioned marketing functions eventually lead to the all-important lead generation which is vital to any company's growth and prosperity. In other words, the sales department will be crippled if the marketing department does not generate a stream of continuous, qualified sales leads for the sales department.

Sales Prevention Diagnostics

Having stated the above importance of the sales and marketing departments, there are many details that need to be addressed if sales prevention is to be avoided. In this editorial, I will try to refer to as many of these problems as possible, and I ask our valued readers to address whichever factors that are most appropriate for their situations. Here are the areas that are most likely to contribute to sales prevention:

1. Ignore The Golden Rule Of Integrated Marketing And, Most Important, Ignore The Golden Triangle. When a company ignores the rules of integrated marketing and the golden triangle, which includes print, online and event marketing, the company has, in fact, prevented maximum lead generation for the sales department.

2. Ignore Marketing Completely. Believe it or not, many companies give lip service to marketing and, as far as I have been able to study, such companies either go under or, if they exist at all, they really don't get anywhere.

I recall a pair of companies that started out in the Chicago area at the same time. Company A was a master marketer and Company B did not care about marketing at all. To make a very long story short, the owner of Company A is a billionaire today while Company B is still struggling and has gotten nowhere in the same period of time!

3. Waste Sales Leads. Many companies spend a tremendous amount of money every year to attend trade shows or advertise in print and online and generate a considerable amount of leads. However, research indicates that as many as 70 to 80 percent of sales leads generated are either ignored completely or followed up too late to be of any use. Indeed, this is one of the leading causes of sales prevention.

4. Ignore Your Customers' Needs And, Most Important, Ignore Your Customers' Customers' Needs. In this highly competitive business environment, the companies that go beyond the call of duty are those that will survive. Once again, as mentioned in many previous editorials, to succeed in business, you need to understand your customers' needs as well as your customers' customers' needs. Let us remember that customer care is the only sustainable competitive advantage.

5. Ignore Sales Training. Many companies, particularly the entrepreneurial small and medium-sized companies, have a tendency to ignore sales training. This is practically unthinkable. How can anyone expect a sales person to sell anything without knowing the benefits and features of the products or service they are expected to sell? Believe it or not, this problem continues to exist.

Environmental firms: ranked by number of L.A. County environmental employees

2007-04-24T22:47:00.002-07:00

THE 20 largest environmental firms in L.A. County employ nearly 3,000 workers dedicated to environmental services.

Environmental firms provide a variety of services including water and wastewater treatment, landfill design and development, brownfield redevelopment, impact statements, asbestos remediation, cleanup of mold and other toxic materials, and consulting services.

Houston-based Waste Management Inc. continues to lead the list, accounting for 39 percent of the environmental employees.

Gardena-based California Waste Services is one of the fastest growing companies on the list. Its revenues have grown to $14 million in 2005, up $8 million or 233 percent from 2003. The company specializes in processing and hauling construction and demolition material. It moved up two spots this year with 145 employees.

No. 14 Environ International Corp. saw local revenues increase in 2005 to $17.3 million, up $6.5 million compared with the previous year. The L.A.-based firm saw total revenue increase to more than $100 million in 2005, up 54 percent from the previous year.
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Overall, the 20 largest environmental firms employ 94,000 people in 2,722 offices worldwide.

THE PACESETTER WASTE MANAGEMENT INC.

Waste Management Inc., the Houston-based owner and operator of Bradley Landfill in Sun Valley, has 1,100 employees in L.A. County, more than any other environmental firm.

The company specializes in solid waste collection and disposal, hazardous waste disposal, recycling, and electrical power generation.

The green energy program at Bradley Landfill converts "landfill gas"--methane produced from the waste--into electricity. The program produces enough electricity to power 10,000 homes per year.

The firm is doing its part on the pollution-fighting front and is saving money in the process, It lessens the blow of high fuel costs by operating the largest natural gas fleet in the nation. Its 430 trash trucks operate on liquid natural gas and compressed natural gas.

Waste Management Inc. reported net income of $186 million for the first quarter ended March 31, up 31 percent from $150 million for the same period a year earlier. First-quarter revenue exceeded $3.2 billion, versus $3 billion in the first quarter of 2005.

Full of hot air: how to handle big egos on your sales team before they're blown out of proportion - Sales Force

2007-04-24T22:47:00.001-07:00

ALONGSIDE SUCH PERSONALITY-describing adjectives as "competitive" and "assertive," the word "egotistical" is often cast in a pejorative light. But being a little egotistical can be a good thing in sales. Without a firm concept of their own worth, salespeople would quickly be gobbled up by the quicksand of insecurity.

Since such a personality makes one well-suited to thrive in a selling environment, you may be harboring a few shades of ego in your sales force right now. Unfortunately, the same personality trait that makes your salespeople superlative deal-closers may also ruffle feathers in the ranks. Here are a few methods for managing big heads on your sales team:

* Know how to talk ego-ese. Joseph Weintraub, management professor at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and co-author of The Coaching Manager: Developing Top Talent in Business (Sage Publications), works with companies dealing with sales strife. To assess individual work styles and identify the ones likely to cause conflict, Weintraub uses a "Stop, Start, Continue" exercise. "Each person writes down what he or she wants the other person to stop doing, to start doing and to continue doing," he says. "We discuss the lists, and through negotiation, we try to build an agreement that fits the needs of the parties involved."

According to Star-Team's "Insights Survey" ($40 at www.star-teams.com), developed in part by Weintraub, effective communication with a dominant personality depends on sticking to the facts, supporting an efficient environment and putting all projects in writing. Communicating don'ts for strong personalities include wasting time, being redundant, using a paternalistic approach or dwelling on details.
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* Learn how to separate emotion from fact. "Ego is always emotional," says Dave Lakhani, owner of Balls Out Sales & Marketing, a sales consulting firm in Boise, Idaho. Lakhani advises entrepreneurs to address the issues and create a definable outcome. Lakhani also urges managers to let sales team members know they will be evaluated not on an ability to relate to just clients, but to each other as well. One way to encourage cooperation is to create competitions that force members to rely on each other to win. "You'll be amazed how quickly communication and support come around," Lakhani says.

* Know how to keep egos in check. "Egos are healthy up to a point," says Janice Calnan, a psychotherapist in Ottawa and author of SHIFT: Secrets of Positive Change for Organizations and Their Leaders (Creative Bound). While the ego helps humans survive, it can also interfere with relationships. "[Egos] put us in a 'judgment mode,' where we want to blame each other." It's when the ego takes charge of a situation that "the rational self is out of control," warns Calnan, who offers tips on handling squabbles in the ranks:

1. Encourage an environment in which salespeople provide each other with positive feedback It's hard to clash with someone who's offered you support.

2. Remember that what we focus on will expand. Focus on what's working, and you'll begin to notice more of what works. Focus on the negative, and suddenly more things seem not to work.

Interiors by design: how one woman went from handling direct mail to designing home interiors

2007-04-24T22:46:00.000-07:00

When Dennese Guadeloupe Rojas was laid off from her production position at a direct mail company in the late '80s, she was disappointed about losing a job but she viewed it as a "golden opportunity" to pursue her life's passion. "Often when you lose a job, you have time to reflect. 'What do I really want to do? What is my life's purpose?'" she says. For Rojas, it turned out to be interior design.

Rojas earned a degree in interior design from Bauder College in Miami but never put it to good use. Unable to find work in her chosen field, she spent several years in advertising. Rojas relocated to Maryland with her daughter in 1988. While at the direct mail company, "I designed a friend's home as a surprise for his wife. That was so rewarding," she says.

Today, Rojas is the sole proprietor of Interiors By Design, which provides interior and exterior design as well as accessories. She is also the owner of a retail store, Interior Accents Etc., where she sells a broad selection of home decor. Last year, both businesses grossed $319,856; Rojas anticipates making $276,351 in the retail store with another $300,000 in design revenues in 2004.
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Making the transition to self-employment in 1990, Rojas began working out of her home in Burtonsville, Maryland, relying on word of mouth and attending trade shows in drum up prospective clients. She eventually courted high-scale clients, namely NFL players, including Anthony McFarland and Shaun King. By 2001, Interiors By Design was solid. But each buying trip was limited by Rojas' small-scale approach. She had nowhere to stock the quantities that allow designers to buy from the big players.

At that point, Rojas decided to set up shop. With her sights set on the high-income, middle-class suburban area of Silver Spring, Maryland, Rojas found a space to lease in October 2001. Lacking retail experience, she turned to a friend, someone who had a store selling home furnishings for 10 years. "I hired her as a consultant; we worked out a payment arrangement," says Rojas, whose startup costs were $70,000 to $90,000. She managed to snare a $45,000 micro loan through the SBA. She also used about, $20,000 of her personal savings.

For Rojas. adding a store to her existing design work was rocky at first. The construction of a loft to accommodate a design office separate from the 1,400-square-foot display floor was delayed, and Rojas had to have a friend fix what the original architect botched. Reliable employees were harder to find, although she now has a dependable crew of four full-time and two part time workers.

Nationally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, interior design is growing at a faster pace than average, with a projected 22% increase in the number of working designers by 2012. Annual billings, calculated per state by Dun and Bradstreet, stood between $200,000 and $900,000 in 2003, with most between $400,000 and $600,000.

While the flurry of home makeover programs on television has made interior designers popular commodities, Rojas notes that it's a blessing as well as a curse. Such shows "have more people coming into the store and seeking a designer to help with the interior of their homes," explains Rojas, who has worked with homeowners with budgets ranging from $10,000 to $4 million. "But people think they can get everything that they want for just $1,000

Meet Woody Slaymaker, president and owner of Slaymaker Fine Art

2007-04-13T04:32:00.002-07:00

. I really enjoyed reading your biography, as you are a true Renaissance Man. Tell us about your early introduction and interest in the worlds of art.

Art has been around me for as long as I remember. As a child, my mother was constantly painting ... canvas or bas relief works were on her easel as my sister and I drew pictures and surrounded her station. We were strongly encouraged to have drawing books and my mother, Martha Slaymaker, would tutor us on drawing and painting techniques as young children.

Once as a young boy, I drank a quart of turpentine when my mother wasn't looking, and I ended up in the hospital having my stomach pumped. This episode might explain my unusual behavior even today.

During my late mother's life, she had 150 one-person shows, and sold 40,000 works. It seemed that she was always preparing for an exhibit, so art was a consistent activity that dominated much of our collective lives. Her art is in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide. As we became older, my mother showed us how to use her intaglio collagraph press for relief prints and etchings. At some point, my sister and I would help her in the process, although, at the time, I was much more interested in athletics and other things young boys in Indiana found amusing, besides art.

I did have to deal with my sister because she was allowed only to draw girls, and I was allowed to draw boys. However, my sister, Jill, betrayed me at 12 years old because she also started drawing boys. This was my first art deal gone bad, and it forced me to become suspicious of the art business.
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Q. Tell us about your world travels and how that has affected your outlook on business?

When I began selling art, I couldn't believe that I was getting paid for traveling. The excitement of going to new cities and countries seemed too good to be true.

Over the past 27 years, I have worked every state in the Union, South Africa, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Ireland, England, Jamaica, all of Europe, Hong Kong, Tibet, New Zealand, P.R. of China, Japan and probably a few countries I have forgotten about.

Selling in non-Western countries is quite different than selling in the west. Negotiations and haggling are important parts of making the sale. Trying to "cut through the chase" will only make one's customer feel that they haven't honed into the best deal possible, so it is necessary to play the game.

Business manners range dramatically from nation to nation as well. One's best preparation is to present oneself in a traditional manner. Never discuss politics, religion and sex, even when people try to drag you into the discussions. Always be respectful of their customs. It is important to be polite and not to offend. It is also important to remember that the overseas accounts are usually making a great effort to use your art, and the value of their currency usually makes this more difficult than dealing with an account from the United States.

Q. You have a very talented wife, parents and family ... and why do you call yourselves "The Indiana Jones Family?"

When we were small children growing up in Indiana, our parents would pull us out of school early and bring us back late as we all journeyed by vehicle to central Mexico and Central America. My parents were passionate about archaeology and we would travel around excavating various Mayan, Toltec, Aztec and Incan excavation sites. We were a part of many famous digs. To this day, I have unusual artifacts acquired from that time. Some of the Mayan artifacts still have the original paint on them.

Towards the end of my life, I may donate them back to the governments from where they came. There is an entirely different political view today on our activity than there was in the 1950s and early 1960s, which I partially subscribe to.

Q. You have a friend who is in the Guinness Book of World Records. What was his qualifications?

In 1977, I was a foreign exchange student from Indiana University and attended La Universidad de Ibero Americana in Mexico City. As I was a piano major studying composition, I was placed in the home of Senor Jacobo Puentis, who had made a living writing Mexican commercial music and jingles.

When I met him, he had no legs and was on a respirator with emphysema, but he could speak well when it was removed. He is in the Guinness Book of World Records for having been legally declared dead 17 times. He had been declared dead eight times before he was 12 years old. He not only shared music and composition with me, but his philosophical outlook was amazing.

Religious leaders from around the world came to see him occasionally to gather his experiences of death before he came back to life. He said that his will to live was just so strong that he kept "bouncing back." He was a fascinating person, and I learned a tremendous amount of philosophy from him.

Fame and fortune: Klegg Electronics owner links with celebrity to compete with industry giants

2007-04-13T04:32:00.001-07:00

Do You Have A Sales Prevention Department In Your Company?

2007-04-13T04:29:00.000-07:00

Based on the extreme importance of this topic, I decided to revisit this matter and expand upon it with greater detail.

Most Companies Have One, But They Don't Know They Do

As I have indicated in my editorial in 1994, many companies actually have a sales prevention department, but they are completely unaware of this fact. When I say "sales prevention department," I don't mean that these companies literally have a separate department with that tide. However, the regular violations of certain important rules that I have indicated in this editorial actually constitute a cancerous problem within many companies.

As you may know, I have been a student of marketing for the last 25 years; in fact, we do have a marketing test at TMC that 99 percent of the marketing managers who have taken it have failed. In my view, the test is a simple one and contains the basic knowledge that every true marketing manager must possess. There is no point in hiring a marketing manager who cannot even define marketing. In many of my previous editorials, I have elaborated on this topic, as you may know.

In many companies, the sales department is regarded as die most important department in die company. Of course, here at TMC, we do not subscribe to this thinking because we feel that every department is equally important. Having said that, my frequent associations with many CEOs within our industry and elsewhere have led me to believe that most companies, in fact, consider the sales department one of the most the important, IF NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT DEPARTMENT.

In my way of thinking, this is not true. I feel that if you are going to rank the departments, marketing should come ahead of the sales department. Here is why:

All Sales Begin With A Sales Lead

As I have indicated in several of my past editorials, one of the paramount responsibilities of the marketing department is to create awareness about the company, articulate the benefits of dealing with the company and highlight the company's differentiation from its competitors. The cumulative results of the above mentioned marketing functions eventually lead to the all-important lead generation which is vital to any company's growth and prosperity. In other words, the sales department will be crippled if the marketing department does not generate a stream of continuous, qualified sales leads for the sales department.

Sales Prevention Diagnostics

Having stated the above importance of the sales and marketing departments, there are many details that need to be addressed if sales prevention is to be avoided. In this editorial, I will try to refer to as many of these problems as possible, and I ask our valued readers to address whichever factors that are most appropriate for their situations. Here are the areas that are most likely to contribute to sales prevention:

1. Ignore The Golden Rule Of Integrated Marketing And, Most Important, Ignore The Golden Triangle. When a company ignores the rules of integrated marketing and the golden triangle, which includes print, online and event marketing, the company has, in fact, prevented maximum lead generation for the sales department.

2. Ignore Marketing Completely. Believe it or not, many companies give lip service to marketing and, as far as I have been able to study, such companies either go under or, if they exist at all, they really don't get anywhere.

I recall a pair of companies that started out in the Chicago area at the same time. Company A was a master marketer and Company B did not care about marketing at all. To make a very long story short, the owner of Company A is a billionaire today while Company B is still struggling and has gotten nowhere in the same period of time!

3. Waste Sales Leads. Many companies spend a tremendous amount of money every year to attend trade shows or advertise in print and online and generate a considerable amount of leads. However, research indicates that as many as 70 to 80 percent of sales leads generated are either ignored completely or followed up too late to be of any use. Indeed, this is one of the leading causes of sales prevention.

4. Ignore Your Customers' Needs And, Most Important, Ignore Your Customers' Customers' Needs. In this highly competitive business environment, the companies that go beyond the call of duty are those that will survive. Once again, as mentioned in many previous editorials, to succeed in business, you need to understand your customers' needs as well as your customers' customers' needs. Let us remember that customer care is the only sustainable competitive advantage.

5. Ignore Sales Training. Many companies, particularly the entrepreneurial small and medium-sized companies, have a tendency to ignore sales training. This is practically unthinkable. How can anyone expect a sales person to sell anything without knowing the benefits and features of the products or service they are expected to sell? Believe it or not, this problem continues to exist.

CT triple header as Dunne team closes three major sales

2007-04-04T02:52:00.002-07:00

The prolific Jeffrey Dunne scored a triple whammy with three major sales in Connecticut this week. Dunne, along with Steven Bardsley and Todd Newman of CB Richard Ellis' New York Tri-State Investment Team, represented an institutional owner in the sale of Greenwich Atrium. The team was also responsible for procuring the buyer, a partnership between Angelo, Gordon & Co. and Core Plus Properties LLC.

And along with CBRE's Christopher Leonard, he represented BlackRock, Inc. in the sale of Hillcroft Apartments for $29.05 million or $151,303 per unit. The pair was also responsible for procuring the buyer, Fairfield Residential, LLC.

In a third separate transaction, Dunne and Leonard represented BlackRock, Inc. in the sale of an adjacent 1.86 acre parcel of entitled land for $1.0 million. The development land has site plan approval from the City of Danbury for 20 residential units. The team was also responsible for procuring the buyer, RJR Builders, LLC of Danbury, Connecticut.

Greenwich Atrium is a 100,154 s/f office building located at 75 Holly Hill in Greenwich, Connecticut, arguably the country's most prestigious and site-constrained office location. The property is situated just off Route 1 (West Putnam Avenue) and roughly one mile from the town center, Interstate 95 and the Metro North train station.

Greenwich Atrium, which was 85.1% leased to 16 tenants at the time of sale, has a highly diversified and stable rent roll representing a variety of businesses such as financial services, real estate, medical treatment and technology. Major tenants at the property included the Bank of Ireland (19,653 s/f), Nextwave Wireless (13,441 s/f), Greenwich Hospital (8,699 s/f) and Citicorp (8,670 s/f).

Commented Dunne, "Greenwich Atrium, with its high quality tenancy, is poised to deliver significant upside through rental rate growth and lease-up by leveraging the numerous favorable characteristics of its quality location and marketplace. Angelo Gordon and Core Plus should fair well with this asset."

Hillcroft Apartments is a 192-unit garden apartment complex located within one-quarter mile of Exit 5 of Interstate 84. It underwent a $2.1 million redevelopment program prior to sale, with new exteriors, renovated amenities, and new landscaping, in addition to interior renovations on many individual units.

The renovation and convenient commuting location has enabled Hillcroft Apartments to achieve higher rental rates.

Interiors by design: how one woman went from handling direct mail to designing home interiors

2007-04-04T02:52:00.001-07:00

Rojas earned a degree in interior design from Bauder College in Miami but never put it to good use. Unable to find work in her chosen field, she spent several years in advertising. Rojas relocated to Maryland with her daughter in 1988. While at the direct mail company, "I designed a friend's home as a surprise for his wife. That was so rewarding," she says.

Today, Rojas is the sole proprietor of Interiors By Design, which provides interior and exterior design as well as accessories. She is also the owner of a retail store, Interior Accents Etc., where she sells a broad selection of home decor. Last year, both businesses grossed $319,856; Rojas anticipates making $276,351 in the retail store with another $300,000 in design revenues in 2004.

Making the transition to self-employment in 1990, Rojas began working out of her home in Burtonsville, Maryland, relying on word of mouth and attending trade shows in drum up prospective clients. She eventually courted high-scale clients, namely NFL players, including Anthony McFarland and Shaun King. By 2001, Interiors By Design was solid. But each buying trip was limited by Rojas' small-scale approach. She had nowhere to stock the quantities that allow designers to buy from the big players.

At that point, Rojas decided to set up shop. With her sights set on the high-income, middle-class suburban area of Silver Spring, Maryland, Rojas found a space to lease in October 2001. Lacking retail experience, she turned to a friend, someone who had a store selling home furnishings for 10 years. "I hired her as a consultant; we worked out a payment arrangement," says Rojas, whose startup costs were $70,000 to $90,000. She managed to snare a $45,000 micro loan through the SBA. She also used about, $20,000 of her personal savings.

For Rojas. adding a store to her existing design work was rocky at first. The construction of a loft to accommodate a design office separate from the 1,400-square-foot display floor was delayed, and Rojas had to have a friend fix what the original architect botched. Reliable employees were harder to find, although she now has a dependable crew of four full-time and two part time workers.

Nationally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, interior design is growing at a faster pace than average, with a projected 22% increase in the number of working designers by 2012. Annual billings, calculated per state by Dun and Bradstreet, stood between $200,000 and $900,000 in 2003, with most between $400,000 and $600,000.

While the flurry of home makeover programs on television has made interior designers popular commodities, Rojas notes that it's a blessing as well as a curse. Such shows "have more people coming into the store and seeking a designer to help with the interior of their homes," explains Rojas, who has worked with homeowners with budgets ranging from $10,000 to $4 million. "But people think they can get everything that they want for just $1,000."

Full of hot air: how to handle big egos on your sales team before they're blown out of proportion - Sales Force

2007-04-04T02:47:00.000-07:00

Since such a personality makes one well-suited to thrive in a selling environment, you may be harboring a few shades of ego in your sales force right now. Unfortunately, the same personality trait that makes your salespeople superlative deal-closers may also ruffle feathers in the ranks. Here are a few methods for managing big heads on your sales team:

* Know how to talk ego-ese. Joseph Weintraub, management professor at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and co-author of The Coaching Manager: Developing Top Talent in Business (Sage Publications), works with companies dealing with sales strife. To assess individual work styles and identify the ones likely to cause conflict, Weintraub uses a "Stop, Start, Continue" exercise. "Each person writes down what he or she wants the other person to stop doing, to start doing and to continue doing," he says. "We discuss the lists, and through negotiation, we try to build an agreement that fits the needs of the parties involved."

According to Star-Team's "Insights Survey" , developed in part by Weintraub, effective communication with a dominant personality depends on sticking to the facts, supporting an efficient environment and putting all projects in writing. Communicating don'ts for strong personalities include wasting time, being redundant, using a paternalistic approach or dwelling on details. Learn how to separate emotion from fact. "Ego is always emotional," says Dave Lakhani, owner of Balls Out Sales & Marketing, a sales consulting firm in Boise, Idaho. Lakhani advises entrepreneurs to address the issues and create a definable outcome. Lakhani also urges managers to let sales team members know they will be evaluated not on an ability to relate to just clients, but to each other as well. One way to encourage cooperation is to create competitions that force members to rely on each other to win. "You'll be amazed how quickly communication and support come around," Lakhani says.

* Know how to keep egos in check. "Egos are healthy up to a point," says Janice Calnan, a psychotherapist in Ottawa and author of SHIFT: Secrets of Positive Change for Organizations and Their Leaders (Creative Bound). While the ego helps humans survive, it can also interfere with relationships. "[Egos] put us in a 'judgment mode,' where we want to blame each other." It's when the ego takes charge of a situation that "the rational self is out of control," warns Calnan, who offers tips on handling squabbles in the ranks:

1. Encourage an environment in which salespeople provide each other with positive feedback It's hard to clash with someone who's offered you support.

Tis the season: the holiday season can be one of the most lucrative times of the year. Start planning now to boost sales by taking advantage of consum

2007-03-24T02:19:00.000-07:00

When it comes to the holiday season, in both business and in life, there's really no better time of year. It's a time to reflect, give thanks and gather with family and friends. But it is also a time when success is as vital to the survival of retail establishments as paint was to Picasso's canvas.

The holiday season presents a special set of opportunities that enables artists and art gallery owners alike to stretch their minds and imaginations to bring customers into the shop during the season and beyond. Whether an art gallery specializes in six-figure sales of high-profile pieces or $60 sales of paper, posters and plates, creative marketing techniques can increase sales during the holiday season and bring customers back after the last ornament has been taken off the tree.

Don't just rely on the tried-and-true holiday art walk to increase your seasonal sales. Sylvia White, owner of Contemporary Artists' Services, a management-consulting firm in Los Angeles which specializes in career development for visual artists, encourages gallery owners to tap into artists' creativity to bring customers in. Ask a group of artists to make Christmas-tree ornaments, she suggested, or ask a them to make menorahs. Ask a group of artists to use their creativity in a way they never have before.

"What I like to do is think of the artist I am working with and ask them to make something that might be particularly relevant to their work," she said. "I once asked a bronze sculptor to do a fireplace screen, and it turned out great. It's something he would have never done himself, and he loved the idea of someone suggesting it."

Once the artist creates that holiday piece, White recommended the gallery owner display it next to some of the artist's traditional work. Ask a glass blower to make an ornament, for example, and display it next to one of his $2,000 vases or bowls. Ask a woodworker to carve a dreidel, she said, and sit it next to one of his most exquisite works. "If the artist is a painter, have them use their style and adapt it to a functional object for the season," she said.

Give the Gift of Creative Shows

White also recommends gallery owners create a show around a holiday theme. "There was a toy show once where artists were invited to make toys that really worked," White added. "It was fabulous." Or, recommended Susan Schear, owner of ArtIsIn LTC, an Oradell, N.J.-based marketing firm that helps artists develop and market their businesses, "you could do a whole lighting show with all different candlesticks made by different artists in several different media," she said. "Kwanzaa is really evolved," she added. "Why not do a show on the history behind Kwanzaa?"

Jack Appelman, c.e.o. of Applejack Art Partners in Manchester, Vt., a company that prints and licenses artists' works, said gallery owners need to do more than just package items together to create an unforgettable show. "Years ago, a gallery could have a Christmas print released for the Christmas season," he said. "They would do a show with an artist and have some kind of event, and it would bring people in. That doesn't do it any longer. Successful galleries are moving toward the model of a gift shop in a way, where they revolve a show around a print and include other products that carry that theme as well."

For example, a gallery might hang a print of an angel and couple it with a piece of glass work that is an angel or a box of hand-painted cards with angels featured on the front. "It also plants the seed for the customer to come back," he said. "And it allows that customer to make impulse buys."

Festive Promotions

You can be impulsive about your promotional ideas as well, White said. For example, why not stop in at the five-and-dime and buy regular items--colorful string, or a Plexiglas box--and ask your artists to create something holiday-themed in their own individual way? "When you give an artist a generic tool to work with and say, `Do something,' you can use the pieces as a hook to get people in there," White said.

If you're more comfortable with traditional marketing techniques, such as a direct-mail campaign, White strongly suggested you don't simply send out a black-and-white postcard. She advised investing in design and color to guarantee your customers will come in. "A lot of gallery owners and artists make the mistake of saving money by not printing a color image on an announcement or by not sending out something that is really gorgeous," she said. "What you send out can really make or break someone's mind in terms of coming to see the show."

Photo auctions attract aggressive bidding: sotheby's strikes gold while Christie's sales are off

2007-03-24T02:18:00.000-07:00

It is becoming ever more important for the photo experts at the top auction houses to persuade important collectors to consign top-flight collections. Last year, in a major embarrassment for Sotheby's and Christie's, the upstart Phillips won the right to sell the Seagram's collection and subsequently walked off with the season's top honors. This season, Sotheby's struck gold with two major single-owner sales of its own.

Sotheby's strikes gold while Christie's sales are off.

On April 27, Sotheby's held a sale entitled "Important Photographs from a Private Collection." Of significance is the fact that it held the sale on that night in April, perhaps trying to emulate the powerful Impressionist and Modern paintings department. (Their top sales are ticket-only evening events comparable to glitzy Hollywood movie openings.) When the auction houses try to woo collectors away from each other, the promise of such an over-the-top production is a powerful lure.

Evidently, the ploy worked. It lured a standing-room only crowd that bid very aggressively--so aggressively, in fact, that nine out of every 10 pieces sold over-estimate.

Each and every one of the 43 pieces sold, and the auction brought in $3.9 million, 60 percent more than the estimate. The top lot at the sale was the disquieting Diane Arbus masterpiece, "Identical Twins (Cathleen and Colleen), Roselle, N.J."

"Disquieting" might be an understatement; according to Sotheby's, it served "as inspiration for the recurring motif of twin girls that appears throughout Stanley Kubrick's film, 'The Shining.'" Originally expected to bring $250,000 to $350,000, it ultimately sold to an anonymous private collector for $478,400, a new auction record for Arbus.

Another record was set when Walker Evans' "Negro Barbershop Interior, Atlanta," sold to the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York for $198,400. This price is somewhat baffling, as this very work had sold just two years earlier at Sotheby's for only $95,600. This represents a 100 percent increase in two years--quite an enviable return on investment. The last of the three records set that night was for Robert Frank, when an image of his 1956 photograph "Chicago" realized $131,200; more than four times its high estimate of $30,000.

The second single-owner sale held at Sotheby's this season carried the following unwieldy title, "The Gordon L. Bennett Collection of Carleton Watkins 'New Series' Photographs of Yosemite." The set is remarkable in that it comprises 40 125-year-old mammoth photographs in "superb condition."

In fact, finding any Watkins pieces at all is difficult, according to the head of Sotheby's photographs department, Denise Bethel. "He lost his life's work twice," says Bethel. Once, when he was forced to turn over his entire stock of negatives to I. W. Taber, a rival photographic publisher, and then when the fires following the San Francisco earthquake destroyed his 'New Series' views."

The 40 photographs were purchased by Gordon Bennett in a rare book store in San Francisco in 1967. He found them hidden on the store's bottom shelves. One might hope that the shop's owner, who had priced them at $25 each, or less, is not around to read that the set brought $2 million, far exceeding its high estimate of $1,406,000. The top lot was "Aggasiz Rock and the Yosemite Falls, From Union Point," which sold to the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco for a record price of $310,400.

As for the main mixed-owners auction, the results were somewhat less extraordinary.

The sale totaled $2,795,200, (below the high estimate of $2.9 million), and approximately 20 percent of the 179 works on offer went unsold. Frankly, this may be a more accurate gauge of the general state of the photo market. It seems that when exceptional collections appear, so do exceptional buyers, which explains the phenomenal success of the two Sotheby sales. For those in the real world trying to sell typical items, the reception is not quite as enthusiastic.

Four works in the sale broke the $100,000 mark, and, interestingly, three of them were taken by the lovers Tina Modotti and Edward Weston. The one Modotti, "Bandolier, Corn, and Guitar," which sold for $120,000, is a politically charged piece intended to evoke thoughts of the Mexican revolution. The other two $100,000-plus pieces, still lifes by Weston, are far less radical: "Pepper (3P)" (which also brought $120,000) and "Shells" (which brought the highest price at the sale, $232,000).

FROM PLACING BUSINESS TO MAKING SALES

2007-03-24T02:17:00.002-07:00

Over the past three years JMB Insurance has transformed itself from primarily a real estate-focused agency to a broad-based client-centered multiline agency that is targeting growth in excess of 15% a year. President and CEO Steve Topel and his four-person executive management team have instituted major technological, marketing, environmental and cultural changes, all focused on strong and efficient client service.

When JMB Insurance was formed in Chicago in 1971 through an acquisition of a small agency, its goal was to provide risk management services for the assets owned by JMB Realty Corporation. JMB Realty was one of the largest commercial real estate owners in the country. Finding business for the agency was not a concern. There were many opportunities as JMB Realty expanded its holdings. Agency employees were experts in designing sophisticated insurance programs that often involved several insurers and reinsurers, coupled with risk management services that served to mitigate or eliminate the risks facing their parent.

However, as anyone in the insurance business or any business knows, the only constant in life is change. And change came to JMB Insurance in 1986 as the result of a change in the commercial real estate marketplace. JMB Realty spun off the insurance agency and also began disposing of some of its properties. By 1990, the agency still had 75% of its revenue coming from the placement of insurance programs for assets owned by JMB Realty.

Lee Sacks, the agency's founder, headed up the effort to recruit sales-oriented professionals who could bring in new business and build on the substantial expertise that JMB had in placing and servicing commercial real estate insurance risks. At the same time, he wanted to diversify into other classes and lines of business, including employee benefits and individual life insurance. Then in 2003, there was another turning point for the agency when Lee retired. His efforts, along with his team, had borne substantial fruit, with 95% of the $20 million in revenue now coming from outside JMB Realty assets.

"Ownership decided to grow the business. They offered me the opportunity to help the agency move to the next level. I had been with another insurance brokerage as a P&C producer for 20 years. It was an attractive offer," Steve remembers. "I was being offered the chance to run a business that had an excellent reputation and was financially sound.

"On the plus side, there was a commitment from ownership to grow the business. There was also a terrific group of people who wanted to move to the next level." However some of the necessary building blocks were missing. The agency was still using a Delphi agency management system. And there was a shortage of middle management structure. "We needed to add more people, and invest in marketing materials, technology, and more space," Steve explains.

"This was a very successful business with an outstanding group of people. It was a perfect situation and I was honored to be offered the opportunity to help make the changes necessary for making the agency even more successful. I'm also fortunate to have a smart, talented senior management team. We're all focused on some pretty impressive goals."

No standing still

"One of the things you learn very quickly in this business is that you can't stand still," Steve continues. "If you try to stay even, you always lose ground. You need to constantly move forward. We needed to take the steps necessary to perpetuate the agency.

"I kept sticking 20 pounds of stuff into a 10-pound bag. There was change after change after change," Steve remembers. "Fortunately, we have a resilient team and they welcomed every challenge. The result is a stronger agency with a workforce that has really taken an active part in the transformation.

"It also helped me identify the key players at the agency. I was able to put together a team of excellent, highly motivated individuals to serve on the executive and management committees that we set up soon after I joined JMB," he explains. "This team is responsible for managing the changes and keeping new changes coming. You'd think that the constant bombardment might have had a deleterious effect on our personnel, but the opposite has been true. Every time they successfully respond to a change, we see the agency get better.

L.A.'s 100 largest private companies: ranked by 2005 revenues

2007-03-24T02:17:00.001-07:00

Eighteen privately-held companies headquartered in Los Angeles County surpassed $1 billion in annual revenues for the 2005 fiscal year, led by Platinum Equity LLC.

MDFC Holding Co., David Murdock's holding company for Dole Food Co. and Castle & Cooke Inc., held onto the second spot. Trader Joe's Co. Inc. jumped six spots to the No. 3 position with $5 billion in revenues after the Business Journal revisited its estimate of the South Pasadena company's revenues.

High gas prices contributed to growth at two local independent petroleum companies. No. 13 World Oil, of South Gate, reported $1.2 billion in revenues, up $160 million or 13 percent from the previous year. Revenues at No. 17 United Oil of Gardena increased to just over $1 billion, up $177 million or 20 percent over the previous year.

Many companies on this year's list are not only the largest but also some of the fastest growing businesses headquartered locally. Three companies saw 2005 revenues increase by at least 50 percent over the previous year.

Superior Communications saw the largest year-over-year growth with revenues of $245 million, up $112 million or 85 percent. The manufacturer and distributor of wireless phone accessories moved up to No. 56 on ibis year's list, up 26 spots from the year prior. No. 12 Newegg.com moved up seven spots with 2005 revenues of $1.3 billion, up $320 million.

Apparel and accessories retailer Forever 21 Inc. jumped 11 spots to No. 19 after revenues increased to $924 million, up $281 million compared with the year earlier.

Numerous companies on last year's list no longer qualify due to mergers, acquisitions and relocations. Cook Inlet Energy Supply LLC, No. 4 last year with $3.4 billion in 2004 revenues, was acquired by Sydney-based Macquarie Bank Group. The purchase of the natural gas trader and marketer was announced last November. Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. acquired DreamWorks LLC, No. 18 last year. The motion picture studio founded in 1994 by David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg had previously spun off its successful animation unit DreamWorks Animation SKG before being acquired.

Also closing shop this year was No. 77 Fishking Processors. The Los Angeles-based frozen seafood retailer closed its downtown manufacturing plant after nearly 60 years in operation when owner Nippon Suisan purchased a Georgia-based competitor and merged the operations.

Three companies on last year's list moved headquarters to outside of the county. California Dairies Inc., No. 8 last year with $2.5 billion in 2004 revenues, changed its base to Visalia. STA Travel Inc., No. 56 last year, moved from Los Angeles to Lewisville, Texas. The student travel agency reported $223 million in 2004 revenues.

Call center operator eTelecare Global Solutions, No. 87 last year with $124 million, moved its headquarters to Tucson, Ariz. from Monrovia, although the company still retains a large operation locally.

Overall, the 100 largest privately held companies in L.A. County reported combined revenue of $77.3 billion, up $2.1 billion or 3 percent over the previous year. Listed companies employ more than 220,000 people in more than 1,000 worldwide offices.

THE PACESETTER

PLATINUM EQUITY LLC

Beverly Hills-based Platinum Equity LLC tops the list of the largest privately held companies headquartered in Los Angeles County for the second consecutive year. Platinum Equity's portfolio companies totaled $8 billion in 2005 revenue, holding steady from the previous year.

Founded in 1995 by Tom Gores, the firm buys and runs companies operating in sectors that include information technology, software, telecommunications, logistics, manufacturing, health care products and entertainment distribution.

The firm has made three major acquisitions since the beginning of the year. It acquired $1.5 billion PNA Group Inc., a steel processor, in May from TUI AG. A few weeks later it acquired Houston-based Metal Supplies Co. and integrated it into PNA. In July, it acquired Hispanic telecommunications service Americatel Corp. from Entek And its most recent acquisition was made in September when it acquired Textron Fastening Systems, a global provider of fastening technologies, from Textron Inc.

In May, the company reached an agreement to sell portfolio company NextiraOne Europe to ABN Amro Capital France, the French private equity business of ABN Amro Capital. The company was acquired four years ago from Alcatel and was Platinum Equity's first major venture into Europe.

"We broadened the focus of NextiraOne and shifted the business from a predominantly voice solutions provider to a fully enabled provider of integrated (internet protocol) communications and managed services in Europe," Brian Wall, Platinum Equity's managing director for Europe, said in a statement.

Desert's luxury home market shows pent-up demand in 2007 sales

2007-03-24T02:16:00.002-07:00

The Coachella Valley's luxury home market priced at $1.5 million and higher is poised for a strong showing in 2007, primarily because buyers who sat on the sidelines since 2005 wary to buy are making lifestyle choices to purchase then-Baby Boomer dream house.

That's why long time luxury home Realtors like Joan Rothermund, of Rothermund and Rudman of Prudential California Realty and a member of the Desert Estates Network, are already seeing closed escrows on trophy properties in 2007. "We just sold a home at $3.1 million at Bella Clancy (the new Tuscany-inspired enclave at Rancho Mirage) and we have homes at $3.6 million and $3.19 million in escrow," Rothermund said.

"What we are seeing is people who are making lifestyle choices about buying the second home in the desert they have been putting off," she said. "Buyers, who sat on the sidelines in 2005 and 2006, concerned that the market may bottom out, are now instead going out to buy for lifestyle reasons. There is so much pent up demand."

According to the Multiple Listing Service operated by the California Desert Association of Realtors, there were 319 homes over $1.5 million that sold in 2006, up over 285 in 2005. The median price of a luxury home sold in 2006 was $2 million, up from $1.9 million in 2005.

"The luxury home market is doing well in the Coachella Valley because there is no recession, the stock market is doing well and personal income has not declined," said Greg Berkemer, executive vice president of the California Desert Association of Realtors. "We don't have any of the negative factors we had a few years ago when the housing market had bottomed out." Berkemer noted that the sale of luxury homes in the Valley has pushed up the median price of a home. "That's just a mathematical anomaly of our market," he said. "But that's not to say that the guy who has a median priced home is getting the price lie might want because prices are backing off somewhat."

A key advantage for the desert luxury home market is that the Coachella Valley's selling season is winter and early spring when the weather is postcard perfect, compared to the snow and cold of most parts of the nation. "As our season kicks in now, I hope more people will see clearly that can buy a home here in stead of leasing," Berkemer added.

Developer Mario Gonzales, a well-respected builder/owner of GHA Companies is also optimistic about the market price threshold of $1.5 million and greater to be a much more active market in 2007 than homes listed for half that price or less.

"We have seen an increase in the quality of buyers since the beginning of the latter part of the fourth quarter of 2006. The multimillion dollar and trophy home buyer market continues to be in demand in spite of the hysteria of a housing bubble," Gonzales said. "This type of buyer is not affected by interest rates but is most interested in a lifestyle and understands the value of real estate, location and most importantly, quality."

Gonzales' company has reported over six sold units in at its most recent Rancho Mirage community, Escala, with an average price of $1.6 million.

Other Realtors, members of the Desert Estate Network, which specializes in million dollar plus properties like Janine Stevens of Dyson & Dyson Real Estate Associates, Louise Hampton of Prudential California Realty and Sandi Phillips, of California Lifestyle Realty Team, say 2007 could be the "lucky" year for selling trophy estate properties. "The market is now a buyer's market so I am finding homes on the market longer and I am advising my sellers to make sure thenhomes are pristine and looking their best I or most exposure to prospective buyers to compete in this market," Philips said.

"We are seeing the Baby Boomers (buyers), wanting a second home to enjoy the sunshine and golf and for what will ultimately be their retirement home. We're starting to see more buyers from the harsh weather states like Oregon and Washington."

Hampton pointed out that the days of investor-buyers rushing in to buy a luxury home and flip it in a sale a few months later to make thousands of dollars in profit "are over."

"I'm seeing buyers all over the board, especially in Palm Springs," she said, "including retired couples, Baby Boomers looking for a second home; gay couples."

Jose Enrique Souto: vice president of sales and marketing, Rowland coffee roasters

2007-03-24T02:16:00.001-07:00

Imagine a world without coffee. Worse yet, imagine a world with only decaf. As long as the Souto family has something to say about it, neither cataclysmic event will take place in the United States.

Since its founding in Cuba in 1865, Rowland Coffee Roasters has been a family-run operation. "Coffee, for Cubans, is a very, very strong part of your daily life," says Jose Enrique Souto, vice president of sales and marketing. The Miami-based company owns 80 percent of the market share for espresso beans as well as some of the most popular Latino coffee brands in the United States: Bustelo, Pilon, Medaglia D'Oro, Caffe' Signore, E1 Pico, Estrella, Ideal, Oquendo and the family's very own label, Souto.

Patriarch and owner, Jose A. "Pepe" Souto, 90, still comes into the company's south Florida office a few days a week, but Rowland is essentially overseen by his three sons: Jose Enrique, Jose Alberto and Angel. Enrique, the eldest, vividly recalls the humble beginnings of this coffee powerhouse.

"I was about 15 or 16 when I started helping my father over the weekend and after school, delivering coffee. It was small-a real family business." While Pepe was roasting coffee, Enrique and his mother were selling the beans door-to-door. "This was like 'Avon calling','" Enrique says. "It was the type of situation where families who were coming to Miami [from Cuba] knew each other. They knew us as coffee people, so they bought the coffee from us. It helped support my family."

The company's income enabled Enrique to graduate from business school at the University of Miami. After a short stint in the retail clothing business, he came back to the bean. His two younger brothers completed their studies shortly thereafter and the trio took the reigns at Rowland Coffee.

Cage Pilon had been owned by Tetley and, according to Souto, was probably the largest Hispanic coffee owner in the U.S. about 15 years ago. "Pilon was familiar. For Cubans, it was Cuban coffee. For Americans, it was espresso coffee." In the 1990s, Tetley approached Rowland to buy their coffee division. "We jumped at it. It was a very highly-leveraged buy, and the small guy bought the big guy!" The sale was finalized in February 2000. Rowland maintained its commitment to Hispanic coffee and its main buyers. Wee fe It that Cuba would open up and we wanted to be ready to do business in the old country."

Although Enrique and his family have been in Florida since the 1960s-and their island home hasn't "opened up"-their love of Cuba has never dwindled. "We have a strong Cuban heritage that we have passed along to our sons and daughters. We are proud to say that we are Americans, but we still have celebrations like we did back in Cuba, like el "dia de los tres magos" and "nochebuena"; things

we grew up with." Meanwhile, Rowland Coffee is trying to inculcate the new Latino generation with some new traditions, including a love for the company's Cubano-Euro cafes. In January, Rowland's first store, Bustelo Cafe, opened at Florida International University. "It's a blend of old Cuba with a European look," says Enrique. The cage serves hot and iced coffees, Cuban sandwiches and Euro-style treats. "It was received with open arms by the students at FIU." Rowland plans to open a dozen more Bustelo Cages at various Florida universities.

The company is also looking into expanding its sales of espresso pods (preground, pre-measured, and pre-tamped: coffee wrapped in filter paper). Souto admits "they haven't been as popular, but we have been selling pods and we felt that the business was developing." Just this month, Rowland's pods hit a few stores in south Florida.

But in spite of all of their success, does Rowland Coffee fear Starbucks, the giant of all U.S. coffees? "Back in 1985, I met one of the original owners," Souto recalls. "He came to our factory to see the Italian operation." The companies weren't, and still aren't, competitors. "What they have done for the coffee industry is marvelous," he says. "They created a new following of people. They took the coffee business that was in decline in the U.S. and revived it. On the other hand, on our side of the business, we had a niche. Our business was growing." Starbucks' success has only helped Rowland Coffee.

The best was hotly pursued, securing record prices, but there was little interest in the rest from buyers at the September Asian Art sales in New York

2007-03-24T02:12:00.000-07:00

Asian art sales in New York in September, and a number of extraordinary prices. At its Chinese art sale on 21 September, for instance, a Qianlong-period zitan-wood three railing, or sage's, bed (luohanchuang) became the most expensive Chinese bed ever sold at auction when it went to the Asian trade for $847,500 (476,123 [pounds sterling]). Its particular interest lay in its combination of traditional Chinese form and a quasi Western style rococo ornamentation; both the 'hundred antiques' motif and the scrolling acanthus leaf carving were of exceptional quality. The style is associated with the Yuanmingyuan Palace, remodelled in the Italian baroque style by the Emperor Qianlong in 1747 with the aid of Jesuit priests. It would seem that the market chose to believe that this piece came from the palace itself.

A mighty $1.07m-601,966 [pounds sterling]-changed hands for the sale's top lot, a large Late Shang or Early Western Zhou Dynasty ritual wine vessel and cover or you dating from the eleventh to tenth century Be. Along with a rarer Shang bronze owl-form covered vessel or xiaoyou from the collection of the late Doris Duke (it had been acquired by her father in 1937 for a massive $10,000), it was sold, for $511,500 (287,359 [pounds sterling]), to London dealer Roger Keverne buying on behalf of the new Compton Verney art gallery in Warwickshire, which now boasts the most important collection of archaic Chinese bronzes in Britain outside the British Museum.

Also sold to benefit the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation was an exquisitely refined pair of celadon-glazed cylindrical jars still with their covers and bearing the six-character mark of the Yongzheng emperor. Estimated at $70,000 $90,000, London dealers Eskenazi paid $466,700 for them (262,191 [pounds sterling]). The same firm paid $820,000 (456,367 [pounds sterling]) at Sotheby's on 23 September for a white-glazed pear-shaped vase or yuhuchun ping of the Yongle period beautifully incised with fruiting and flowering pomegranate, which came to the block with expectations of $50,000-$70,000. Such pieces are exceedingly rare, not least in mint condition. It was always going to soar way beyond its estimate, but what its price reveals is the sophistication of the current market even among the newer collectors of the Chinese mainland. It is no longer just porcelains decorated with colourful enamels and with mark and period that make the huge prices.

What we saw more generally in the Chinese sales was a continuation of past trends, that anything of real quality and merit at any level would rocket while the mediocre or even the reasonable fell by the wayside. (Keverne, for instance, bid $40,000 for a lacquer box estimated at $2,000$3,000 and still did not secure it.) The sales also emphasised the importance of provenance in the West for archaeological material, and the additional premium paid for a glamorous, Duke style pedigree on anything. Yet the series's successes disguise pages of unwanted, bought-in lots.

This best-and-the-rest scenario was neatly illustrated at Sotheby's first thematic sale devoted to The Arts of Buddha, on 22 September. A private Chinese collector paid $1.9m (just over 1m [pounds sterling])--four times the published estimate--for five sheets of calligraphic script of the 'Perfection of Wisdom' Sutra by Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322), signed and dedicated by the artist, mounted in album form, bound in silk, and bearing two of the artist's deals, sixty collectors' seals and one colophon. Another Chinese collector also paid over the odds for an outstanding and large patinated gilt-bronze figure of Avalokitesvara of the Sui or early Tang Dynasty (Fig. 1)--$596,000 (331,701 [pounds sterling])--yet the entire $5m sale was only 59 per cent sold by lot and 47 per cent sold by value. Sotheby's $3.9m general Chinese sale was 60 per cent sold by let; Christie's $11m sale, 63 per cent.

Christie's $4m Japanese and Korean Art sale on 22 September fared slightly better in terms of percentages. Its top lot here was a spectacular and hotly contested pair of early seventeenth-century six-panel screens representing a Portuguese ship coming in to Japan to trade (Fig. 4). This telling historical document speaks volumes of the shock of the Japanese's early encounters with the curious 'southern barbarians' and their dark-skinned Indian crew. The screens were finally knocked down to an American collector for $589,900 (329,553 [pounds sterling]). An exceptional single-owner group of Nob masks and robes totalled $400,000. The great casualty here was the pair of massive

Tips On Preparing Your Home When Selling FSBO Pt 1

2007-03-07T01:52:00.000-08:00

Preparing your home to be sold FSBO, or for sale by owner, is not a lot different to preparing your home for a real estate agent to start selling it for you. The only difference is that you are in complete control over the process. To get a good sale price, as well as a quick sale you will need to be determined, and focused on the task at hand, you will also need to get some things organized.

De-Clutter

The ‘de-clutter’ word may make people shudder at times, as they think that all of their treasured possessions are anything but clutter. The trick to selling your home FSBO is preparation, and presentation. Remove the possessions in your home that make it your personal haven. By doing this you will give your potential buyers the chance to imagine their possessions in your home, and that will lead to them imagining how great it will be to live in your home.

While your house is on the market, place all of the things that you don’t need in storage leaving only day-to-day necessities out. When you have done this walk around your home and look at it. If it feels impersonal, and a little bare you have reached your first goal.

Scrub, Scrub, And Scrub Some More

Once you have removed all of your personal effects, and any thing that doesn’t have to be in your home, you are ready to start on your next FSBO step. You will notice there is a lot of empty space, bare places. You will now need to start in one room of your home, and get the scrubbing brush out and keep scrubbing until you have cleaned the entire room from top to bottom.

Once you have finished in one room, then continue to the next room, and repeat this process until you have cleaned the entire inside of the house. If you are using cleaners while you are scrubbing make sure to use protective clothing and open some windows to provide adequate ventilation.

Paint Your Walls And Ceilings

Regardless of what many people may think painting it is vital to the sale of your FSBO home. For starters you will want to make your home look clean, fresh, and salable, old paint never has that effect even if it is washed.

Another reason why you will need to paint your walls is because you may have color preferences of your own, which may not appeal to other people. By painting your home in clean looking neutral colors you will appeal to any taste in buyer as they will see your home as a blank canvas ready for them to personalize according to their own taste.

Look For Faults

Once you have your home looking clean and fresh you will then need to look over it for any faults, or for things that need fixing up. Are there cracked tiles? What about holes in the walls? Is there anything that you have just never got around to fixing up? Look around the home, jot the jobs down on a pad, and begin fixing them. If you cant repair these things yourself, then call in the professionals.

Owner-occupants continue to drive industrial sales activity - San Gabriel Valley

2007-03-05T22:44:00.000-08:00

MARKED by the tightest industrial market outside of downtown L.A., activity in the San Gabriel Valley for the third quarter continued to be led by owner-users taking advantage of low interest rotes to buy buildings.

With vacancy rates at 2.2 percent on a base of 164 million square feet, according to Grubb & Ellis Co., demand for leased space was strongest among users in the market for less than 100,0130 square feet.

An essentially fully leased market coupled with an eager and able stable of buyers has helped push prices higher, as institutional investors cashed out of several properties.

Rents have followed property values higher. Third quarter asking rents were 50 cents per foot, 11 percent higher than the 45 cents being asked in the April-June quarter and near the upper end of the L.A. County industrial market.

Those factors have forced some tenants to look to the Inland Empire or even out of state in search of locations for expansion.We're running out of product," said Jim Center, a senior vice president at Grubb & Ellis. "We're really starting to exhaust the supply side. There's not a lot of new construction coming on line. We're running out of land."

With few substantial sites left for development, Majestic Realty Co. remains in the catbird seat when it comes to leasing large portions of space.

"Majestic is the only one with substantial holdings in the San Gabriel Valley," said Steve Bellitti, who along with fellow Colliers Seeley International senior vice president Tom Taylor works the market. "Finding a five acre (development) site is virtually impossible."

Majestic, in partnership with the City of Industry, is developing the 400-acre, 6.5 million-square-foot Grand Crossing business park near the intersection of the Pomona (60) and Orange (57) freeways at the eastern end of the city.

On the cusp of the San Gabriel market, and about to get underway, the Carpenters Pension Trust, with CB Richard Ellis Advisors as its investment manager, has been given entitlements for a 1.5 million-square-foot development between Rose Hills Road and Mission Mill Road. The site, in an unincorporated corner of the county, sits between Industry and Whittier, a Mid-Cities market.

Focus on sales

While those leasing opportunities remained limited, sales activity continued to drive the market.

"Interest rates are still historically low, and Southern California has always been a small business, entrepreneurial market," said Phil Lombardo, a principal at Trammell Crow Co. "There are always more buyers than there is product for sale."

Lombardo pointed to the $11.6 million sale of a 181,000-square-foot building in Industry. ABS Computer Technologies Inc. purchased the building, which is 70 percent vacant, from fund manager RREEF.

Most of the sellers were institutional investors, and while many of the buyers were owner-users, other large buyers took advantage of the buying opportunity as well.

Layton Belling & Associates did two substantial deals in the third quarter. The first was the $59 million purchase of the 667,000-square-foot Concourse industrial and office complex from AEW Capital Management LP. The project consists of a 420,000 square feet of industrial space, 158,000 square feet of office space and 88,000 square feet of flex plus 5 developable acres. The project, built in 1989, is fully leased.

The Newport Beach-based investment and management firm also struck a $26.2 million deal for the Kellwood Building on Temple Avenue in Industry. The 471,000-square-foot building was purchased from TA Associates Realty.

About the only large lease deal completed in the quarter was the 85,000-square-foot expansion signed by Scholastic Book Clubs in an Irwindale building owned by Clarion/ING. The 7-year deal was valued at $3 million.

Looking ahead, Lombardo said leasing activity would pick up in the first quarter of 2004, but the limited supply of land would continue to push demand further out.

Major Events:

* Manchester Tank signed a 42,000-square-foot lease at 88 Fairway Drive in Walnut for an estimated aggregate values of $1.2 million.

* Layton Belling & Associates purchased two industrial projects for a combined $85.2 million. One was the 667,000-square-toot Concourse industrial and office complex, the other the 471,000-square-foot Kellwood Building on Temple Avenue, both in Industry.

* Scholastic Book Clubs signed a seven-year lease in Irwindale as part of a 5,000-square-foot expansion valued at $3 million.

Companies look to the future by exploring online sales options - Timeshare: technology - Brief Article

2007-03-05T22:43:00.002-08:00

While timeshare has only scratched the surface of the Internet, new applications are forthcoming. Online timeshare purchasing soon will be a reality, according to Howard Nusbaum, c.e.o. and president of the American Resort Development Assn.

Most developers are seeking new ways to exploit the Internet and service an information-craved clientele. Bluegreen Corp. is rolling out a Web-based central-reservations outlet that will allow owners to book real-time reservations, pay maintenance fees, view account activity and gather detailed information about the resort portfolio. Chad Jernberg, Bluegreen's marketing and e-business strategist, said there will be on-line telesale options in the future.

Fairfield Resorts is exploring online sales models through the company's branded portal, said Mary Mahoney, senior v.p. of service and resort hospitality.

The Internet's ability to post owner testimonials is another example of its power.

"They can post a negative experience, perhaps from a misunderstanding of a situation, or the product they purchased," Jernberg said. "This can cause bad-will about a property and shed a negative light."

David Pontius, president of Resort Condominiums International North America, said the biggest challenge with the Internet is realizing how to keep up with consumer's expectations.

"Customers get frustrated that there's not enough information," he said. "They become accustomed to the better sites and they get spoiled."

"We're making a lot of steps forward," Jernberg said. There's a lot of room for improvement about how it's marketed, what's there and what to do with the information online

Touched by the top angel: Anaheim, thanks to its owner's willingness to pay big money to such talents as Vladimir Guerrero and Bartolo Colon, appears

2007-03-05T22:43:00.001-08:00

A dozen cardboard boxes were piled up in a hallway outside the Angels' spring training clubhouse in Tempe, Ariz. They were serving as makeshift mailboxes for the team's better-known players. Spring training was barely a week old, but the boxes already were filling up--and no box contained more mail than the largest one, the one belonging to Vladimir Guerrero.

It seems the newest big-name Angel is fast becoming the most popular Angel. Judging from his 24/7 smile, Guerrero looks like the happiest Angel, too. Why not? After years of toiling for the Team That Bud Neglected, the right fielder has left Montreal and found work with a franchise ready to settle in with baseball's elite.

In 2002, the Angels went on a magical run to win their first World Series. After spending their first 41 seasons as mostly an afterthought on southern California's sports landscape, the team was on top of the baseball world. Seven months later, Anaheim got some really good news.

Arte Moreno, who made his fortune in the billboard business, bought the club from the tight-fisted Walt Disney Co. and quickly showed he does not plan to operate as most owners do. He cut ticket costs, lowered beer prices and wandered arou

To make good on his word, Moreno committed more than $145 million in the offseason to four free agents--including $70 million over five years for Guerrero. Now a club with a payroll of about $80 million last year will have one closer to $110 million in 2004. While the Yankees and the Red Sox hogged the hot-stove spotlight, it was the Angels who landed the best free-agent player in Guerrero and the top free-agent pitcher in power righthander Bartolo Colon. The signings of righthander Kelvim Escobar and outfielder Jose Guillen further strengthened the club.

"Those guys definitely provided the entertainment for the offseason," Angels outfielder Tim Salmon says of the high rollers in the American League East. "From our standpoint, even if we hadn't done anything this winter, we were thinking as long as we can get healthy, we'll take our chances. Then we go out and make some moves. We're thinking, hey, those are nice additions. Then ... all of a sudden, it's Guerrero. Now it's like we've been given more than we ever asked for, but we'll take it."

On paper, Salmon says, this is the most talented Angels club in his 13 seasons with the team, an opinion difficult to dispute considering what Anaheim added to a core that includes seven regulars and the heart of the pitching staff from the '02 championship team. "When you go up against the Yankees, sometimes they win because they have the most talent," Salmon says. "You can put this team in that category now. Guys like Garret (Anderson), Vladdy and Colon literally can put the team on their back and carry you to a win."

Of course, you must remember a favorite cliche of spring training: "The games aren't played on paper." On paper, most teams look like winners in March. But what's on paper means about as much as a fan letter. One example that the best team doesn't always win the biggest prize just happens to be those '02 Angels, who fielded no better than the fifth-best talent in the majors (after the Yankees, A's, Giants and Cardinals). But manager Mike Scioscia sold his players on his sum-is-greater-than-the-parts approach. By June, the club was making late-inning rallies a routine occurrence; before long, baseball fans across the land were going nuts for the rally monkey.

"We had to play that selfless style because we didn't have a guy or two who could carry us," says Salmon, the longtime right fielder who now is Anaheim's primary designated hitter. "We fed off each other. I watched the Marlins last year, and imagine that's what they had. Pressure is a lot less of a load when everyone is contributing."

Even though they'll have more players capable of picking up teammates, the Angels don't plan on changing their style. They won't ask Guerrero to curb his aggressiveness at the plate because they're confident that his run production will more than offset his disdain for walks. With the added power, the Angels might not need to move runners over as often, but Sioscia still drills his players on situational hitting. The Angels will continue to rely on defense and what has been the league's best bullpen over the past two seasons.

Give Your Buyers Some Privacy

2006-12-18T21:39:00.001-08:00

If you have decided to sell your home on your own, you need to remember that you will be performing various tasks. You will clean up, photograph, and advertise the house. Afterwards, you will receive and screen calls, and schedule viewings; either private viewing or through open house events. Though you may be able to perform all these tasks single-handedly, and without any hitches, you may encounter some difficulty when you are actually showing the house to potential buyers.

As the owner of the house, there is still a tendency for you to be somewhat “over protective” of your property. Oftentimes, you would “shadow” the buyers wherever they go; giving bits of trivia or ‘defensively’ offering explanations to perceived flaws. Although you only want to help, your buyers may feel intimidated or uncomfortably with your presence. Buyers, especially couples who come in together, tend to talk about the unit they are viewing between themselves. They will discuss everything from which room would be used for what to the envisioned color scheme. With you around, they may not be able to thoroughly discuss the pros and cons of the house as well as their future plans.

When you’re showing your house to guests, always keep a respectable distance. Don’t hover around them; ideally don’t follow them inside rooms. The absence of your ‘immediate presence’ gives them the freedom to open doors, pull drawers and draw shades; and most importantly, talk between themselves if the house is the one they are looking for. Keep the information you relay to them to the bare essential and go into detail only if they ask you questions.

You have to strike a balance though. You may go into extremes and completely leave them to their own devices – thus making them think that you are not interested in their business. It may be difficult to do, but if you carefully observe how your clients move and interact, you will be able determine whether or not they want your help or would rather be left alone.

Your Fsbo Support Group

2006-12-18T21:39:00.000-08:00

Selling a house is not a very easy thing to do, especially if you have decided to sell your property on your own. Home sellers who have opted to secure the services of real estate agents have been spared this kind of trouble, but do not fret. Selling your property on your own is very much doable. You just have to do your homework and, make sure that you have a highly professional support group whom you can run to for help and advice.

To be totally honest, real estate transactions involve a lot of paperwork. There are a lot of documents that need to be completed and subsequently filed; and there are several forms that should be used when receiving or accepting offers. If you do not approach the task of home selling logically, may end up confused and miss out on a few details or two.

In order to have a relatively easy selling process, you should have a reliable group of people whom you can turn to if you find yourself in a bind. Generally, you only need a good surveyor or evaluator (so he can properly appraise the value of your home), and a good real estate lawyer. The lawyer can check if you have properly filled up the necessary forms and documents, and can advise you about the legality of the conditions indicated on the ‘offers to purchase’ you will receive. These two individuals can generally guide you through the entire home selling activity. Your lawyer can also tell you which local or state office you need to obtain the necessary permits and consents (if necessary).

Tips On Preparing Your Home When Selling FSBO Pt 2

2006-12-17T22:45:00.003-08:00

Think Your Ready To Sell, Aren’t You Forgetting Something?

Once you have followed all FSBO the steps in part one, you are ready to progress to the outside of your home. Street appeal is very important when it comes to selling your home. Have you ever heard of first impressions? Well the front of your home is your potential buyers first impression! If the front of your home looks shabby they are likely to keep on driving and not even bother looking at your home.

Start off by removing all of the rubbish, or things in your front and back yard that doesn’t need to be there. Do a big clean up, and then get the mower out and mow all of your lawns. Once you have done this you will be able to see what areas of your yard needs your attention.

Pretty Sells

A well-tended yard attracts buyers. Think back to when you bought the house, you can almost guarantee that the yard was filled with well cared for gardens, with not a dead thing in sight. You need to get your front and backyard into shape.

Start off by making sure that you have clean lines between what is a garden bed, and what is lawn. Trim your hedges, and weed all of your gardens, so it looks tidy. If you have dead plants or planters with dead things in them remove or replace them.

Nothing makes a home look more inviting than flowers. If you are selling your home FSBO in the spring or summer annual flowers are sure-fire winners for giving a home street appeal. Carefully choose a color scheme, and begin planting your annuals in your garden beds. If you have concreted areas, try brightening them up with planter pots filled with colorful annuals.

Not only will the annuals make your yard look like a million bucks they are also very cost effective, and fast growing. About a month before you put your home on the market make sure you get your plants in the ground this will give them the time to get established, as well as start flowering for you.

Think Your Ready To Sell?

Look over your home, and ask yourself if it looks good enough to sell. If you answer yes then it is time for you to get a second opinion. Ask friends, family or even your neighbors to come through your home. Show it to them as if they were your potential buyers.

This will achieve two things for you. First of all you will get some practice in, since you will be selling your home FSBO you will need to polish up on your selling techniques. The second thing that this will achieve is you will be able to ask people for their honest feedback on what they thought of the home. Once you have done this you are ready to put your home on the market and sell it FSBO.

Sell Your Own Home - Revealed: FSBO Information that Realtors Don't Want You To Know! pt. 1

2006-12-17T22:45:00.001-08:00

Selling your own home is attractive to many people. In this article, we will look at the good and bad of going For Sale By Owner or FSBO.

Why would you want to sell your own home?

Obviously, you have the potential to save yourself money. By selling your home yourself (For Sale By Owner or FSBO), you can save the commission you would normally pay a real estate agent (often as much as 6% or more!)

You may need to sell your home quickly. By lowering the asking price by the amount you save on commissions, you may be able to price your home below market value, still make the same profit, and sell it as quickly as possible.

You are probably the perfect person to show your home to buyers. Who else knows your home and neighborhood better than you do yourself? Probably nobody! So, who better to tell others about your home? (Be careful here. You may know all about your home, but you don't know just what may excite or turn off a potential buyer)

You can keep better control of your life. If you are setting the viewing appointments, you can choose when to have the prospective buyers come see your home. If you aren't feeling well, or didn't get a chance to clean up after the kids this morning, you can schedule the buyers to come through later in the week!

These are just a few of the advantages to selling FSBO. Now let's take a look at some of the downside to selling your own home.

Difficulties in selling your home on your own?

Don't let this scare you off, but there are some potential problems when you try to sell your own home.

Many buyers look at FSBOs for the same reason many FSBOs try to sell on their own... Saving Money! Now, that probably isn't a surprise to you, but think about what it really means. Both the buyer and seller are trying to save the same money on the same house. There are ways to work around this, but don't get defensive when someone comes in and makes a "low-ball" offer on your home.

At least some of the money you save from not paying the Realtor's commission will still have to be spent on marketing your home. Yard and directional signs, newspaper ads, flyers... it all adds up. You can still save considerable money, just make sure you budget beforehand for these expenses!

You are still going to have to deal with Realtors! It is a fact that most FSBOs get an average of 2-3 times as many calls from Realtors as they do from buyers! Especially during the first weeks you try to sell on your own. We'll talk about how to deal with these calls in a bit.

Speaking of phone calls, expect to get them from Realtors, buyers and "lookers" at all hours of the day and night. It is often difficult for a seller to know who is actually a good prospect, so you will probably show your house much more often, for the same results. Also, you should have a way for buyers to get in touch with you immediately, which can be difficult if you work, or go shopping, or go to soccer games, or to... well, you get the idea! At the very least, you will need to get a good answering machine.

You will need to answer your messages frequently! The more motivated a buyer is, the less time you have to respond to them. You are probably not the only one they are calling, and if you wait a few hours to call them back, they will have moved on to another house.

Last and possibly most important, you will be competing against all the other home sellers in your area, and that includes those who have listed their house with a Realtor.

A good real estate agent does offer many advantages to their clients. The agent has access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and probably works in an office with many other agents, all of whom have buyers looking for different types of homes. They can advise you of the best selling features of your home and anything you can do to give your home more "curb appeal" so it will sell quickly. You will have to work harder without an agent, but you expected that, right? After all, you are saving their commission!

Preparing your home to sell.

OK, good. You're still with me. You can work around not having an agent, and possibly even get one to do some of the work for you for a lot less, maybe even for free! But first, let's get your home ready to sell.

First, get rid of clutter. Empty closets, clean the garage, if you don't need it, get rid of it! It is amazing what most people (myself included) can accumulate in just a few years of living somewhere! Get rid of as much as you can! I know it's hard, (get a storage unit if you have to) but I can tell you that 99 times out of a hundred, the house with minimal furniture and knick-knacks will sell a lot faster and for more than a house with all that stuff still in there. Plus, getting rid of the excess stuff will save you a fortune on your move!

Once the clutter is gone, clean your house. Better yet, save time and effort by finding a reputable cleaning service and have them do it! ou want the house to be immaculate. If your home is really clean, buyers will feel that you have also kept it in good shape.

Speaking of clean, if you have any pets, or if you smoke, have a friend or relative come over and smell your house. We don't see or smell what we get used to. I've been in houses that absolutely reeked of pet odors or cigarette smoke, and the owner couldn't smell a thing. This can cost you thousands!

Make minor repairs, or hire someone to do it. Little things can really turn off a buyer. They get the impression that your home isn't well cared for, and that costs you money! Paint a wall, fix a dripping faucet, replace a burned out bulbs, all those little things you've been meaning to do... get to them!

There's a reason it's called "Curb Appeal"

Your home's entry makes the first impression on your buyers. Paint the front door, it really helps your home look inviting. Bright colors are considered welcoming, many experts believe that red is the best color. Clean around your entry, if your screen door is unsightly, repair or replace it.

Mow the grass, rake up the leaves, trim those overgrown bushes, plant fresh flowers! If it needs it, seal the driveway and cracks in the walkways... your home will look very welll cared for!

Next, get your family mentally ready for what's coming! Having strangers walking through what is a private, secure space, is unsettling for everybody. Explain what is happening to young children. Who knows, you might even get them to keep their own room clean!

Finally, depersonalize your house as much as possible. The family photos of great-uncle Jesse may mean a lot to you, but will make it that much harder for buyers to imagine themselves living in your house.

Well, that's it for now. In the next installment, we will talk about setting up your team, pricing your home, attracting potential buyers, showing your home, and accepting the offer.

Sell Your Own Home - Revealed: FSBO Information that Realtors Don't Want You To Know! pt. 2

2006-12-17T22:24:00.000-08:00

In the first segment, we looked at the good and the bad aspects of going For Sale By Owner or FSBO. This time we will talk about setting up your team, pricing your home properly, and attracting potential buyers.

Setting up your Team

Just because you have decided to sell your house on your own, doesn't mean that you should do everything yourself. It is important that you set up a team of experts to help you with the details. Here are a few people you should have on your team:

Title Company/Real Estate Attorney: You will want help preparing the sales contract and any disclosure documents pertaining to the sale of your home. You really want to get this part right to avoid any legal difficulties later. If you have a trusted friend who is an attorney, they can help. Also, most title companies prepare these documents several times each day, and may provide these services free or for a reduced fee, with the expectation that your will use their services for title and escrow, a good deal for both of you!

You may also find a real estate agent who will perform these services for you for a nominal fee. If you are staying in the local area, your buyer's agent may help you with the sale of your home, and with a little negotiating on your part may even do it for nothing, since they are going to be compensated on the purchase of your new home (which you won't be buying unless your current home sells).

Mortgage Lender: OK, I'll admit that I may be a little bit biased here, but a good lender can be one of the most valuable people on your expert team. A good loan officer can pre-approve any interested buyers for you, so you can weed out those who are just incapable of buying your home. A lender should also be willing to prepare a financing breakdown on your home, allowing buyers to compare different financing options.

You can also get pre-approved for the purchase of your new home! This can save you money and puts you in a stronger bargaining position compared to others who may be interested in your NEW home. I have seen this one item make and break a home purchase agreement.

Home Inspector: You may want to think about having your home inspected prior to putting it on the market. This will help you with your disclosure statements, and makes a very favorable impression on buyers!

Pricing your home to sell

How much should you sell your home for? It's simple... Just as much as you can get, and still sell in a reasonable time frame, right?

Absolutely! The problem is that most homeowners don't really have an accurate idea of the value of their home. How can we solve this dilemma?

The best way to value your home is to have an appraisal done. An appraiser will look at your house and compare it to other, similar houses (comps) and arrive at a fair market value.

You would then take this value and make any adjustments you feel are necessary. Do you need to sell quickly? You might want to lower the price a little. Have time and want top dollar? Then maybe you want to leave the price right at market, or even a little higher.

Don't want to pay for an appraisal? After all, they will cost several hundred dollars. You can get an idea, though not as accurate as an appraisal, by asking your title company (you did remember to set up your team already, didn't you?) or a real estate agent to "pull comps" for you. Just take what you see with a grain of salt, and remember to figure in whatever direction the market is moving. Remember, comps deal with past sales prices, not what they would sell for today.

Attracting potential buyers

There are numerous ways to lure prospective buyers to your home. Some of the most common are:

Signs: Probably the most important thing you can do to sell your house quickly is to put a professional looking FSBO sign in your front yard. This will tell everyone who drives by that your home is on the market, and will also make it much easier for potential buyers, who may be looking for your house, to find it.

Flyers: You will want to have flyers printed up that describe your house. Be sure to include such highlights as the number of bed and bathrooms, square footage, and any unique features that may not be obvious at first glance. Put a photo on the flyer (black and white is fine). An excellent idea is to put some financing options on the back of the flyer. Your lender can give you this information.

Classified Ads: You will probably want to put an ad in the classified section of the local paper. Keep it short and sweet (it's cheaper that way). If you are holding an open house, you will definitely want to place an ad in the real estate section the day before.

Neighbors: This is an often neglected source of buyers, by realtors and FSBOs alike. Tell all your neighbors, or send out a postcard, that you are selling, and ask them if they have any friends or relatives who would like to live in the neighborhood.

Internet: Think about listing your home on the net. Many people start their home search online, but most are just browsing, and you may wind up with less serious shoppers. Be sure to weigh the costs vs. the advantages. Craigslist is a free site that is getting more and more real estate traffic, check it out before spending money on an expensive listing service.

Showing your home

Oh No! There are people coming to look at your house. What do you do now?

Before hand, make sure you have your flyers printed. Now, go out and buy a few packages of ready-made chocolate chip cookie dough and some microwave kettle corn, you'll see why in a sec.

OK. It's the day of the showing. First, take a quick run through of your entire house. Make sure everything is clean and picked up. Remember, no clutter is best! Next, give the carpets a quick vacuum. Even a soiled carpet looks better when it has been recently vacuumed.

About a half hour before the home shoppers arrive, put a dozen of those chocolate chip cookies in the oven. They will make the house smell much more "homey," plus you can put the cookies on a plate to offer to your "guests." This is an old real estate agent's trick, that will work wonders... try it.

What if you are going to be getting home from work just a few minutes before the showing? Pop the kettle corn in the microwave. The scent reminds many people of apple pie, and that has to be a good thing, doesn't it?

RELAX!! The showing will go much better if you do. You are now better prepared than most of the people who have sold their houses. You'll do just fine.

Accepting the offer

When you receive an offer on your house, don't take it personally. Remember, many people will look at any FSBO home as an opportunity to make a "low-ball" offer. Take your time, and try to look at the offer objectively.

Have a professional help you with the purchase agreement. Once again, your buyer's agent may be willing to help you look over the offers on your home. It never hurts to ask (preferably when you are interviewing various agents). You will probably want to make a counter-offer, and there will likely be a time limit on the offer you received, so again, it is best to have your experts lined up ahead of time. From my own experience, I can tell you that "Good contracts make for good friends!"

Again, remember not to take the offer personally. After all, this is a business decision for you. If the numbers work, Great! If they don't, then don't feel like you have to take the offer, especially if it is the first one.

Finally, before accepting the offer, make certain that the potential buyers have the ability to qualify for the loan. If they have not been pre-approved (not just pre-qualified, there is a difference) your lender can help you make sure they can actually buy your home before you waste a lot of time, and possibly turn away other, qualified buyers.

I hope this helps you negotiate the pitfalls of selling your home For Sale By Owner. Good Luck!