Those of you who know me know I love every single day – each is its own special blessing. But I have to say the days of spring make me especially grateful. And this spring is proving particularly pleasant for Realtors because of a strong seller’s market and interest rates that are continuing to hover at historic lows for buyers.
These two factors alone can make your spring selling season bloom with business – if you’re ready. To get ready, you need to think about the tradition this time of year – spring cleaning.
To take full of advantage of this market, it helps to stop for a moment and consider what’s working and what’s not. This is a time to clean out the closets, a time to get back to the basics – because we know those basics work.
So with that said, here are some tips I’d like to offer to help make your spring fresher, brighter and, of course, more profitable.
- Dust off your operations – Pull out the dust rag and wipe down your operations to get a good look at them — give ‘em the old white glove test. First, make sure all of your operations focus on the customer. Remember, we’re talking basics here. You run a small business and the goal of business is to get and keep customers. If any one of your operations doesn’t help you complete that goal, get rid of it. You might start with this question: What can you change to make it easier for your clients to get what they need?
- Sweep out any bureaucracy – Over time businesses, and all organizations really, tend to sprout ugly little patches of bureaucracy – like nasty weeds. Put all of your policies and procedures under the microscope and look for anything that gets in the way of serving customers. Grab the broom and sweep out any and all inefficiencies. Ensure everything in your office points directly at the customer and gets them what they need – without any hassles.
- Vacuum up time wasters – So what’s your most valuable commodity? Time. If you’re not using it wisely, you’ll fail. It’s just that simple. And if you’re not using your time to get and keep customers, you’re not using your time wisely. My boss and the CEO of the company I work for, Bob Corcoran, always says the four tasks Realtors should always be doing are: listing, prospecting, selling and negotiating. I couldn’t agree more. Take a quick timeout to audit your day. List all the activities you typically do and then get rid of (or delegate) anything that doesn’t fall under one of those four tasks. Do that and you’ll do fine this spring – and the rest of the year.
Category Archives: Waccabuc NY
Desire a Masonic temple? Detroit temple is heading for foreclosure auction | Waccabuc Real Estate
Masonic Temples are staples in many U.S. cities, but one of them is having a tough go of it in this economy.
The 14-story Masonic temple in Detroit is in foreclosure, with its current owners owing well over $150,000 in back taxes.
The ABC affiliate in Detroit says the building – once the hang out of dozens of Masons – is slated for a September tax foreclosure auction.
Fiscal fears hurt Hamptons housing market | Waccabuc NY Homes
In the first quarter, sales of expensive Hamptons homes fell off the fiscal cliff.
Fear of higher taxes in 2013 drove a flurry of high-end house sales in the Hamptons at the end of last year. That front-loading of sales slowed down the top of the market in the first three months this year, experts said Wednesday, citing data from a report scheduled to be released Thursday by broker Douglas Elliman Real Estate and prepared by appraisal firm Miller Samuel Inc.
On the rest of Long Island — excluding the Hamptons and North Fork — housing inventory declined sharply in the quarter, according to the report. Houses listed for sale fell to 15,303 in the first quarter, down from 20,358 a year earlier, as homeowners wait to rebuild equity and see where prices head. Average prices rose in the first quarter to $435,082 from $415,243 a year earlier.
Hamptons houses sold for an average price of $1.2 million in the first quarter of 2013, down from $2.1 million in the previous quarter and $1.7 million a year earlier, the report said. The fall doesn’t signal a decline in prices so much as a shift in timing, said Jonathan Miller, president and chief executive of Miller Samuel.
Buyers, Miller said, tried to close “by Dec. 31 because the general assumption was a tax environment would be higher in 2013.”
Miller said 49 houses in the Hamptons sold for more than $5 million in the fourth quarter but only eight in the first quarter.
The so-called “fiscal cliff” threatened a mix of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts in 2013. Congress agreed to limit the tax hikes while increasing rates on the highest earners — those likeliest to be worried about capital gains on the sale of multimillion-dollar homes.
While the average price in the Hamptons swung, the median price was more stable, falling to $740,000, a 5.1 percent drop compared with a year earlier.
“The top end of the market has taken a breather,” said Douglas Elliman broker Paul Brennan. “Other than that everything is pretty normal.”
30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rates Decline for 4th Consecutive Week | South Salem Real Estate
How to Sell Your Home Remotely | Waccabuc NY Real Estate
South Salem Leads in Unsold Ave. Days on Market | RobReportBlog
South Salem Leads in Unsold Average Days on Market South Salem 168. Bedford Corners 167. North Salem 164. Armonk 149. Pound Ridge 139. Bedford Village 136. Bedford Hills 118. Katonah 113. Chappaqua 107. Mt Kisco 97.
Is your Content Boring? 8 Types of Content Every Business Should Consider | South Salem Realtor
Housing report disappoints for investors | Waccabuc Real Estate
By midday, the Dow Jones industrial average briefly popped higher, while the S&P 500 edged up 0.2% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.6%.
Investors were disappointed by an industry report showing that existing home sales slipped 0.6% in March from the prior month. Analysts expected the sales rate to rise, writes CNNMoney.
Real estate agents among the happiest professionals | South Salem Real Estate
Real estate agents apparently are a cheerful bunch these days, relatively speaking. They’re ranked No. 1 on CareerBliss’ 2013 list of the 10 happiest professions in America.
The list, released last week, was based on a survey of more than 65,000 professionals nationwide last year, who rated their job happiness based on factors such as company culture, compensation, daily tasks, growth opportunities, and relationships with bosses and co-workers, writes Baltimore Business Journal.




