Are you managing your online reputation?

Reputation can affect purchase decisions and influence the growth or decline of a business.

Many businesses are using social media to develop online reputations, manage and respond during a crisis and monitor the conversation to prevent future crises.

Try searching your company and product names to make an assessment of your online reputation. What do you see in the top 10 search results?

What follows are three tips to help you manage your reputation with social media.

#1: Establish Your Online Reputation

When someone Googles your brand name, your business should be sitting right there on the first page waiting for the user. And yourbrandname.com shouldn’t be the only branded search result.

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social brand pages should assist in owning the first search engine results page. Especially if you have a common name, owning your brand name search queries is important for users to find the right information.

Social media can help you create a stronger online presence, so old news doesn’t turn up at the top of search results. If you don’t control your brand, someone else may post inaccurate or derogatory information that could tarnish your reputation.

Take a look at the search results from Lululemon. The first result is for their website, but the next four listings are all social media channels that they own or have the ability to edit and monitor.

These owned channels help push down search results that misrepresent your brand.

According to a click-through rate study published by Slingshot at the end of last year, the number-one ranking on Google gets about an 18% click-through rate and the number-two organic listing gets about 10%. Regardless of the actual percentage, the data proves that the first search engine results page is the most important for your brand’s reputation.

The reason you want to control several of your first page search results is if a crisis strikes and you have set up several social channels, your brand will have plenty of platforms ranking well to disseminate your message.

These branded channels help push down negative or competitor results that you don’t want representing your brand.

Creating social media profiles has given people the channels to voice their joys and complaints about your company. Owning your social media profiles can help you better control and manage the conversation, so you can respond in a timely manner.

If you aren’t marketing with social media, those conversations are going to happen on other channels that may prohibit you from getting involved in the conversation.

#2: Control Responses During a Crisis

A crisis for a company can range from unexpected website issues to a lawsuit. How a crisis is handled online makes a huge difference to the future ramifications. It’s important to monitor and respond to customers who write on your wall or send you messages to resolve any issues and let users know they’re heard.

Facebook was one of the channels Anthropologie used for announcing a huge online sale in May. Right after they posted about the event, the site went down for maintenance. It didn’t take long for Facebook users to complain and point out that they couldn’t get to the site to buy any products.

The social media team did not respond to every comment personally, but was smart to send out a note to fans that they were working on the issue and the site would be back up soon.

Customer complaints were acknowledged and customers were told that the company was addressing the issue.

When the site was back up, a user still couldn’t access the page, so the social team provided a direct email contact to resolve the issue off of Facebook. Providing an email was a good solution because it gave the user somewhere to go to have her issue addressed.

If you can’t solve a user’s problem with a simple post, take the issue offline and out of the public eye as soon as possible.

Within 10 minutes, Anthropologie responded with another method of customer service.

Sometimes brand ambassadors will even step in to resolve a conflict for you. Though it is helpful when customers support you enough to calm a disgruntled customer, do not assume that will be the case every time. Set up tools and a strategy to monitor the conversation, so you aren’t surprised with the conversations happening about your brand.

#3: Monitor Conversations

Now that you’ve created and are updating several social profiles on behalf of your brand, you may find it a bit overwhelming to keep up to date with what is being said about your brand online.

Savvy businesses are monitoring their brand for mentions with social media monitoring tools.

“Social media monitoring tools are the first line of defense when managing your online reputation,” explains Andy Beal, CEO and founder of Trackur. “Monitoring tools allow you to quickly fan the flames of any praise or fight reputation fires while they are still manageable.”

Before a negative review goes viral or enters the top 10 search results for your brand name, wouldn’t it be helpful to respond and solve the problem or take the issue offline to address?

Social media monitoring tools range from free to more advanced enterprise-level to tools that only monitor certain platforms. Although online monitoring tools capture a vast amount of mentions on the web, no tool can capture every mention due to privacy policy settings.

Here are a few tools worth checking out:

• Google Alerts is a free tool that monitors all sites that Google can index with options to be notified as it happens or weekly.
• Trackur is an affordable tracking tool that monitors several social channels, as well as forums and news sites.
• SocialMention is a free tool that monitors over 70 social media properties.

There are several Twitter-specific monitoring apps, like Seesmic and HootSuite, as well.

Social media is real-time, so the faster your brand responds, the better your customer service will appear.

While people have the right to voice their complaints, it’s up to you to remedy the situation and turn negative comments into positive opportunities. Since social media is public, your quality customer service will be seen by other users and may influence their purchase decisions.

One company that monitors their brand name very well, especially on Twitter, is Morton’s Steakhouse. Taking a quick look at their Twitter page shows that they respond to many online mentions and try to provide the best customer service they can.

In the second tweet, Morton’s offers an email to take the conversation offline.

People love to feel like they are being heard and mentions of a brand are invited opportunities for a company to respond.

There is one thing we do know and that is that the era of one social network that fits all is gone.

The social network tribes are splintering onto different social media platforms because they now have real choice.

LinkedIn is for the savvy professional who loves business networking both online and offline.

White collars abound.

Pinterest is for the time rich females that want to share beautiful images with the world including the entire contents of the fashionistas wardrobe and  sumptuous photos of food.

Visual is cool.

Google+ is the thinking and passionate persons social network that detests cold calling salespeople and spammers. The Google+ tribe members love long form messaging that takes advantage of the Google+ limit of 100,000 characters.

Bigger is better.

Twitter is for time poor people that want to announce and find events that are happening in real time both large and small. Any person that needs more than a 140 character message is simply not being efficient.

Less is more.

Facebook is for frantic parents for communicating with their teenagers when they won’t answer their phone or that urgent text message.

It is where your friends and family are.

So Who is Using What?

Everyone thought that Facebook would rule the universe and sweep all other social media platforms into the sea. This reality distortion is now known to be false. Facebook will be big for a long time, just how long is the question. Google+ is being sometimes called a “pure” social network as it is free of advertising.

So want to to know about how the social networks are currently performing compared to each other. Here are some facts, figures and statistics on 5 major social networks.

 

Infographic by GO-Gulf.com

An Update

Even though this Infograhic provides some valuable information that provides context to the social networking ecosystem there has been an update to the Google+ statistics recently.

Google has revealed the latest numbers about Google+ that I have outlined in  ”Why You Shouldn’t Ignore Google+ Anymore“. Included are significant increases in engagement and time spent on the platform

Over 900 million people in the world are on Facebook, including over 180 million Americans, or 1 in 2 adults. Twitter recently surpassed 300 million accounts. Small business owners are trying to take advantage of these trends, but few are fully reaping the rewards. 

For most business owners, the temptation is to use social networks to promote themselves and broadcast their messages. But if you stop thinking like a marketer and start thinking like a customer, you’ll understand that the secret to social media is being human – being the sort of person at a cocktail party who listens attentively, tells great stories, shows interest in others, and is authentic and honest.  The secret is to simply be likeable.

Here are 5 tips for small business owners to be more likeable and ensure greater success using social media:

1. Listen first. Before your first tweet, search Twitter for people talking about your business and your competitors. Search using words that your prospective customers would say as well. For example, if you’re an accountant, use Twitter to search for people tweeting the words “need an accountant” in your town. You’ll be surprised how many people are already looking for you.
2. Don’t tell your customers to like you and follow you, tell them why and how they should. Everywhere you turn, you see “Like us on Facebook” and “Follow us on Twitter.” Huh? Why? How? Give your customers a reason to connect with you on social networks, answering the question, “What’s in it for me?” and then make it incredibly easy to do so. Note the difference between these two calls to action: “Like my book’s page on Facebook” and “Get answers to all your social media questions at http://FB.com/LikeableBook.”
3. Ask questions. Wondering why nobody’s responding to your posts on Facebook? It’s probably because you’re not asking questions. Social media is about engagement and having a conversation, not about self-promotion. If a pizza place posts on Facebook, “Come on by, 2 pizzas for just $12,” nobody will comment, and nobody will show up. If that same pizza place posts, “What’s your favorite topping?” people will comment online– and then be more likely to show up.
4. Share pictures and videos. People love photos. The biggest reason Facebook has gone from 0 to 900 million users in 7 years is photos. Photos and videos tell stories about you in ways that text alone cannot. You don’t need a production budget, either. Use your smartphone to take pictures and short videos of customers, staff, and cool things at your business, and then upload them directly to Facebook and Twitter. A picture really is worth a thousand words – and a video is worth a thousand pictures.
5. Spend at least 30 minutes a day on social media. If you bought a newspaper ad or radio ad, you wouldn’t spend 5 minutes on it or relegate it to interns. Plus, there’s a lot to learn, and every week, new tools and opportunities across social networks emerge. Spend real time each day reading and learning, listening and responding, and truly joining the conversation. The more time and effort you put in to social media, the more benefits your business will receive.

Above all else, follow the golden rule:  Would you yourself click the “Like” button, the Follow button, or Retweet button if you saw your business on Facebook and Twitter? Would you want to be friends with your business at a cocktail party? Just how likeable is your business?

Paul Caillaud has seen the corrosive effect an internal commission dispute can have on a company, and he’s glad he watched it from afar.

“All I can say is that it’s a bad thing,” says the general counsel at the 85-salesperson RE/MAX Preferred in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Caillaud’s intent is always to resolve conflicts between brokers and salespeople in the hope of avoiding litigation. “In one case, a salesperson left [another brokerage], and everybody in the office knew what was going on. We got phone calls from that company’s associates wanting to affiliate with us, which was wonderful for us but crappy for the broker who created the situation.”

What caused the dispute? To close a transaction—after having cleared it orally with his broker—a listing agent told his clients that his company would reduce its commission by half a percent. At the closing, however, the broker balked. The broker got his way, taking the $400 in dispute out of the listing agent’s share of the commission. Caillaud became aware of the dispute because one of his company’s salespeople represented the buyers in the deal.

The broker eventually relented, but the damage had already been done. “For $400,” Caillaud says, “the broker risked that sales associate leaving and the polluting commentary of that salesperson as he went out the door.”

Commission disputes between sales associates at your company can cause similar harm if you don’t have a process for skillfully resolving them. Here’s how to do just that for both types of disputes.

Spell Out the Rules

Last-minute agreements, such as the one Caillaud described, can lead to trouble. So can sudden departures in which salespeople mistakenly believe they can take a client with them in the middle of a transaction, says Alex Wang, a principal and broker-associate at Sereno Group in Palo Alto, Calif.

There are two keys to avoiding fights with sales associates over money. First, detail your company’s rules in your office policy manual. “We have a 40-page manual that we have sales associates sign annually,” says Pamela Cirkiel, ABR, CIPS, broker-owner of M.E. “Gene” Johnson, REALTORS®, in Round Rock, Texas. “We have a section on commission disputes that basically says, while there will occasionally be misunderstandings, they will be handled promptly by the parties involved. If they can’t be resolved by the parties, we’ll use our local board’s arbitration services. We have a really good dispute resolution program at the Austin Board of REALTORS®.” Indeed, every state and local association is required to offer dispute resolution services, including mediation and arbitration, to their REALTOR® members. But all parties must agree voluntarily to participate. Neither agents nor brokers can force anyone into dispute resolution.

Cirkiel’s manual also has provisions about the importance of a positive attitude, honesty, and integrity. “I think that helps me avoid these kinds of disputes,” she says. “When people are happy where they work and don’t feel threatened, there are fewer disputes.”

Second, put into writing last-minute side agreements that deviate from your overall commission agreement with sales associates. “Be clear in your conversations, and then put those conversations in writing,” suggests Wang. “Just shoot it in an e-mail saying, ‘This is my understanding of the agreement.’ It’s easy to fix these problems in the beginning. Later on it’s tougher.”

Referees for Salespeople

More common than commission disputes between brokers and salespeople are internal squabbles between sales associates.

Caillaud has seen disagreements occur when two salespeople have different understandings about the nature of a referral: The associate who receives the lead expects to pay a referral fee of a particular amount, while the other associate is looking at the transaction as more of a co-op sale, with the salesperson’s portion divided differently.

To resolve such disputes, Caillaud’s company creates a mediation panel. “We set up the equivalent of a traditional board of REALTORs® mediation,” he explains. “We’ll have five associates, usually from our other offices, on the panel. Those involved in the dispute will present their arguments, and their fellow salespeople will make the decision. That decision is binding on the salespeople and the company.”

Associates can also disagree over procuring cause. Cirkiel has seen that twice in the past six years with the same salesperson, a person Cirkiel respects.  “She’s a very hard worker and in the office a lot,” Cirkiel says. “She feels if she greets people at the door, they’re her clients. So if they come back and sign a buyer representation agreement with someone else, she’s upset.”

The best way to avoid procuring cause disputes? Train sales associates to ask buyers if they’re working with another salesperson and to sell the benefit of signing a buyer agency agreement. That approach, however, isn’t always foolproof. “The second time there was a dispute, the client actually signed two buyer representation agreements,” Cirkiel says. “Both associates told me they asked the client, ‘Are you working with another salesperson?’ and ‘Have you signed a buyer agency agreement with another salesperson?’ And I believed them.”

In both cases, Cirkiel asked for all the paperwork the sales associates had on the transaction and met with each individually. Then she met with them together, heard both sides, and made a decision. In both instances, she shaved the company’s share of the commission, resulting in a loss of $1,200 and later another $5,000. Those may seem like big hits, but Cirkiel says they weren’t when she considered the success of her company in the long term. “I took the company’s portion and distributed it to make things more equitable—not to make everybody happy. I didn’t have to, but I was willing to take a hit to make these go away. The way I look at it is that some sales associates aren’t willing to compromise when there’s a dispute. But if you can inspire them by showing you’re willing to compromise, they will learn to as well.” 

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4 (Possibly) Outdated Policies

Some office policies or traditions have become antiquated, or at least less compelling, as business practices change. Ignoring these shifts could pose harm to your company. Here are four policies you may want to revisit at your office.

1. Floor time.

Many brokers say giving agents shifts in which they answer phones in the office is an anachronism and a waste of a good sales associate’s energy and motivation. Replace floor time with an automated phone system or a trained receptionist.

2. Weekly sales meetings.

It’s not that sales meetings aren’t a good idea. But a weekly meeting gets old, and it’s hard to provide valuable information every week. Better to have monthly meetings or to arrange one-on-one or small-group sessions with sales associates as you identify specific needs.

3. Escrow management.

Many brokers have escrow policies—but haven’t updated them in eons. In fact, disclosure laws can change pertaining to whom notice must be given that brokers are holding funds in escrow and how they have to provide that notice. When there’s a claim or lawsuit against a broker, it often involves an escrow dispute, and it can end up being costly. Be sure to review your escrow policies annually to reflect emerging trends in escrow claims.

4. Perks for selling in-house listings.

If your commission schedule provides a higher split when your sales associates sell an in-house listing, you could be taking a risk. Lawyers are beginning to see claims in which buyers allege sales associates “steered” them to in-house listings.

It is late spring in my home state of Georgia. We had a very mild winter, which was much appreciated at the time. But is that truly a good thing?

All the talk is how bad the mosquitos are going to be this summer and the damage that insects will do to the crops. There is also concern over how plentiful some crops will be, such as peaches and pecans. You see, the winter freeze kills the mosquitos and other crop-destroying insects. Trees also need enough cold days to properly set fruit for the next season’s harvest.

As we go through a changing real estate market, it reminds me that our business is much the same. Seasonal shift isn’t just normal — it should be expected, anticipated, and appreciated! So how do we survive the winter and prepare for the bountiful economic spring and summer? Consider these five steps.

1. Develop a Value Proposition: “Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny.” — Mahatma Gandhi

Consumers are always looking for value, but in changing economic times, they don’t just look for it; they demand it. Value is measured not by the feature or the product but by the benefit or the use. As a broker, understand that your primary purpose on this earth is to help the agents who choose to affiliate with your company sell properties. As an agent of a broker, your primary purpose on this earth is to sell property. Each day should be spent searching for the next value proposition for the people you serve.

2. Develop, Implement, and Stay True to Your Plan: “To succeed in America, you need three things: A smile, a gun, and a plan. If you have to give up one, give up the smile. If you have to give up two, give up the gun – whatever you do, don’t give up your plan.” — Al Capone

A business without clear, specific, and time-limited objectives is like a ship without a rudder. It is to be cast about at the desire of the winds and currents, with no ability to steer. A goal without a clear, specific and meaningful plan is no more than tilting at windmills. Create and commit to a plan with measureable and tangible steps of achievement. For instance, to obtain a five-year income goal, where would you have to be in three years? One year? Six months? Three months? Then do what you have to do to stay on track.

3. Communicate With Your Base: “The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.” — Edward R. Murrow

Effectiveness vs. efficiency: Which is more important? To simplify it a bit, effectiveness is doing the right things, while efficiency is doing things right. If you write the most incredible e-mail message ever and blast it out to 1,000 people but no one opens and reads it, the act may have been efficient, but was it effective? One-on-one, personal communications always have been, and always will be, the most effective. I read recently that in political fundraising, making calls is between four to seven times more effective than sending a card requesting support, and meeting with donors face-to-face is eight to 10 times more productive than calling. How are you communicating with your base? Sending a handwritten note to five people in your sphere of influence a day and then following up with a phone call a week later may take more time than sending an e-mail blast to 100 people, but it may also reap much higher rewards.

4. Be Empathetic and Respectful: “I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don’t even invite me.” — Dave Barry

Empathy involves attempting to understand how others feel, whereas sympathy knowing how another person feels because you’ve been in the same situation. Leaders must exude empathy but must also be careful of being sympathetic: When people look to you to find guidance because they are confused, it would provide little consolation for you to tell them that you are just as confused as they are. Try to understand their need and how they got into the situation in which they find themselves. Help them focus on the solution and not just the problem. Do all of this respectfully. It’s not what is said but how it’s said. People may not remember tomorrow exactly what you said but will remember years from now how you made them feel.

5. Accept Environmental Compliance: “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” — Jimmy Dean

Each of us has had the occasion to have a bad day turned around by people providing positive support. We have also, unfortunately, had good days ruined by others who rain on our parade. Fact is, most of us do not have charisma that can change the mood of the room. Instead, we conform to the environment in which we find ourselves. While we may not be able to change the mood of the room, we can change rooms. Start each day with a positive affirmation. Begin each conversation with a smile and a kind word.

I love the restaurant Chik-Fil-A. Sure, the food is good, but their staff always puts a smile on my face. No matter which of their stores you go to, if you say “thank you” after receiving your order, they respond with “It was my pleasure.” I, for one, am convinced that it is.

It is my hope that you’re inspired to be thankful for opportunities, humbled by the kindness of others, and mindful of the daily graces we are granted. Continue with your day, your week, your month, and your career — and realize always, “It was my pleasure!”

According to Remodeling magazine’s latest Cost vs. Value survey, the average price of an upscale kitchen redo hovers about $113,000. Even the cost of a mid-range overhaul is a whopping $58,000.

However, sellers are rarely willing to invest the kind of time and money it takes to do that kind of remodeling job, especially one they’ll barely use before they move. But there are affordable alternatives to make this much-used gathering spot more appealing, both aesthetically and functionally. Here arenine easy-to-implement, easy-to-copy ideas for you to share with sellers and buyers. Tell them to try one, two, or perhaps all of them!

▪ Reuse existing elements in the kitchen when possible. “We try to take a hard look before we start any renovation to see what can be salvaged,” says architect Talia Braude, AIA, LEED AP, whose firm Braude Pankiewicz Architects is based in Brooklyn, N.Y. For example, when Braude found floor joists that were too damaged to be structurally sound, she reused them as kitchen shelves, for which they worked perfectly.

▪ Go with affordable cabinets, possibly a line with simple maple, cherry, or oak rather than exotic imported wood or lacquered fronts. Also, opt for pressed rather than solid wood interiors and shelves to pare costs. Because cabinets often represent 50 percent to 60 percent of a remodeled kitchen’s cost, saving here brings down the price, says Lou Manfredini, Ace Hardware’s “Home Expert” based in Chicago. But if possible, spend a bit more on quality hardware that will eliminate wear and tear when opening and closing doors and drawers. One good place to start looking for affordable cabinets is at IKEA, says Braude, which her client Orli Belman did when remodeling a kitchen in her Los Angeles home. Belman saved even more by purchasing cabinets during IKEA’s kitchen sale. Other alternatives include replacing the doors (and reselling the old ones), or repaint cabinets with a product like Ace Hardware’s Cabinet, Door & Trim Paint, an alkyd-based semi-gloss finish that yields a smooth, factory-like finish.

▪ Appliances are another huge cost factor in redoing a kitchen, and stainless-steel name brands are among the biggest offenders. Besides opting for less expensive black-and-white fronts and going with cheaper brands, Web sites like Craigslist and Overstock are good resources for new or little-used items others are trying to get rid of. Belman went those routes and found a double oven and refrigerator drawers on Craigslist, each for $400, when a construction project stalled. She estimates each would have cost about $3,000 retail. She also found an inexpensive but good faucet at Costco and discontinued Martha Stewart light fixtures on another Web site.

▪ Changing a countertop or several can add an instant fresh look, but instead of replacing them with high-end granite, marble, or manmade quartzes, Manfredini suggests covering tired laminate tops with RustOleum’s highly durable Countertop Transformation product, a three-part system that transforms them into look-alike granites in five different colors. Belman also found affordable butcher-block tops at IKEA.

▪ A new backsplash can make a huge difference, and there are many self-adhesive tiles that are easy to install for DIY consumers, including those with the hot metal look in vintage or modern patterns and a host of sizes, shapes, and colors, Manfredini says. Savvy home owners also should consider contacting manufacturers, many of which offer overstocked goods for far less. For instance, Heath Ceramics has been known to sell them for 75 percent off retail at its factory showroom in Sausalito, Calif.

▪ New lighting is one of the easiest switches to make and offers a big payback since it can make a kitchen look larger and highlight its best features, from a great island to kitchen table to new backsplash. Advise homeowners to locate new lighting under cabinets where main tasks are performed, within cabinets, especially glass-fronted ones, to show off cabinets and attractive contents, and over a dining table or island where one great fixture will shine, literally. When possible, opt for compact fluorescent or light-emitting diode bulbs to conserve energy, even though the initial price is higher. And if the bulb’s compatible with dimmers, it’s a great way to vary moods.

▪ Though replacing an entire floor can be costly, time-consuming, and expensive, there are handsome options that will last and won’t break the bank. Durable and affordable options include Marmoleum, a sustainable linoleum, which no longer resembles what your parents or grandparents had but comes in hot colors and textures; old-growth bamboo that’s denser than new variations; and cork, another natural material that’s easily repairable if dings (or worse) occur. If a room is partly remodeled, often the floor can be saved with patching and restaining rather than replacing all of it, Braude says.

▪ Buyers should consider redoing the layout if it doesn’t work, then save elsewhere rather than the reverse, Braude advises. If they install all new cabinets and appliances, but keep the same old, poorly functioning kitchen plan, they probably won’t be pleased. It’s better for them to gain a new layout and budget elsewhere — maybe keep cabinets — and later replace them, she says.

▪ Even when budgeting, home owners shouldn’t forget to add in one or two splurges for a focal point and some kind of “wow” element to raise the level of the renovation, even if it’s a budget one, Braude says. Examples include handcrafted tiles with beautiful finishes, colors, and patterns, and a great island countertop, perhaps fashioned from a gorgeous CaesarStone as Belman and her husband chose to add.

A couple building a new home in the Hamptons was halfway through the construction of their new home, when they made a discovery that caused them to pull the brakes on the project and order the entire house be torn down. Their discovery: There wasn’t enough room to fit a pool in the backyard. 

Eric and Margaret Friedberg ordered the house be torn down and started from scratch, The New York Post reports. The house, builders say, was built in the wrong spot and the couple had no room for a backyard or pool.

“Mistakes happen,” Margaret Friedberg told the New York Post.  “I love my architect and my builder. This was a surveyor’s problem.”

This was the second time the couple had demolished a home on the property, which they originally purchased for $2.478 million in May 2011. An upgraded 1,674-square-foot home that once stood there was torn down to make room for this new one. 

The teardown of the most recent home had about $150,000 invested so far in the construction of the project. The framing of the first floor and partial framing of second floor had to be dismantled, and the 45-by-45-foot concrete had to be smashed, The New York Post reports.

Several home owners say they want to sell their home but they can’t because they still owe too much on their mortgage.

While home prices have seen a slight uptick in many areas in recent months, home owners are still waiting to see a bigger jump to take them from underwater to above water on their mortgages. 

Underwater homeowners’ reluctance to sell is causing inventories of for-sale homes to shrink at a time when home buyer demand has picked up considerably, USA Today reports. 

“When you get [houses priced] under $125,000, it’s like a frenzy,” Linda Schlitt-Gonzalez, owner-broker of a Coldwell Banker franchise in Vero Beach, Fla., told USA Today. “It’s not unusual to have five offers.”

Inventories of homes for-sale tend to be the lowest in housing markets that have the most underwater home owners, according to CoreLogic.

Forty-five percent of home owners with mortgages have less than 20 percent of equity in their homes, according to data provider CoreLogic. In general, home sellers need at least 20 percent in “equity to generate enough cash to turn around and buy a similar or larger home using a conventional loan,” USA Today reports. 

“We thought, if demand was there, there would always be sellers. But instead the supply is sitting on the sidelines,” Stan Humphries, Zillow’s chief economist, told USA Today. “The inventory phenomenon … will make for a more volatile housing recovery than what we initially expected.”

Some major markets with the least amount of supply in homes for-sale — less than a three-month supply as of May — are Seattle, Phoenix, Denver, Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, D.C., and portions of Southern California, according to the 18 major markets Redfin tracks. 

“In order for us to see a more stable housing recovery, the basic rule of economics requires prices to change enough to bring a new wave of sellers on the market,” says Michael Orr, real estate expert at Arizona State University.