Where You Want To Be In CT

How to BEAT the Amortization Table.

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Just some perspective facts to start. There are 136 million home owners in the US. 34%, or 1/3 of those homes, are owned free and clear and another 14 million homeowners owe less than 50%. I am NOT in either one of those categories. Thankfully I am also not in the statistic of 5.4 million who are negative 20% or more on their homes. Another interesting fact is that the median amount that a homeowner put down on a home was 20% 10 years age, while today it is at 5%.

Homeownership is still a hope of almost all of the younger generations. Those who own eventually realize 44X the net worth of those who rent (or live at home with parents). Neighborhoods with high ownership tend to be safer with less crime and the owners more engaged in their communities.

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Real Estate TEAMS are the Trend of the Future

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First let me debunk a myth. If you are on a team you DO NOT SHARE COMMISSIONS AND YOU DO NOT PAY THE TEAM LEADER; at least not on the McCaffrey Team. If I have your attention now I will discuss the benefits of a team and then I will get into the financial aspects.

I do not think that lone agents, especially newly licensed agents have a snowball chance in hell of being successful in this business. It may be your perception that this is an easy career and that you just sit in your real estate office of choice and people just call on the phone. This is no longer the model. Clients are made through personal referrals and long term relationships. You are starting your own company. You need to determine your strategy, your business plan, your target market. You need to have both the knowledge of a Mentor and the emotional support of a team to survive. The average “lifespan” of a new agent is 10 months. The average Realtor in the business sells 3 homes a year. That might sound like a lot but after expenses, taxes, marketing it comes down to about $4000 per transaction.

Benefits of a TEAM-

You have a TEAM LEADER
Who is there to answer your “NEW AGENT” questions 24-7.
Who you can shadow to learn how to do a listing appointment or to negotiate
A building inspection.
Who will advise you on how to establish a database/ marketing plan.
Who will actually go with you on your first appointments.
Who will give you their leads from internet connections and open houses.
Who will find and provide learning opportunities.
Who will introduce you to all of their trusted resources and referral partners.
Who shares all of their years of knowledge and experience.

You will have a TEAM
Who fill in for you when you are double booked or have family obligations.
Who is going through similar growing pains and will give your emotional support.
Who will share their successes and mistakes.
Who will celebrate with you.

The TEAM Leader usually has a private office separate from the main franchise office. Our office is at 300 Federal Road in Brookfield and is fully operational with a heavy duty printer, supplies and internet. The way that the McCaffrey Professional Team works is that for the hours of training and mentoring Coldwell Banker pays me. NOTHING comes out of the agent side. You do not share your commissions with anyone…other than the IRS.  I will share more about this at our upcoming informational meeting. The strategy of the company is that the agent on a team will be MUCH more productive and better trained than one who is not on a team. It is a concept and a model that franchises are encouraging.

We do NOT accept every newly licensed agent to our team. They must have the aptitude, be coachable and committed to the pursuit of excellence. We will be accepting a maximum of 4 new members to our team of 12. I will be holding an information meeting for new agents AND also for agents who have experience who are ready to rise to the next level. It will be Tuesday, Nov. 13th at 5:30 pm at my office. Please call Linda McCaffrey at 203 994-3666 for a small group discussion or call to schedule a private meeting.

What Day of the Week Should the Listing Go LIVE?

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James Philipakos from Flagstar Bank forwarded me this great information about which day to make your home ACTIVE on the MLS.  James is a trusted advisor and you can reach him at 203 856-4771.

Redfin studied 100,000 recently sold homes and found a pattern for price and time results based on which days of the week listings went active.

To understand why this information is both accurate and important, we should think about consumer behavior. Potential homebuyers who are in the “looking” mode don’t do a lot of planning. They jump out on the weekend and check out open houses.

Serious buyers plan much more, setting up a list of homes for sale that fit their needs and they schedule their time to see as many as possible, usually on the weekend. To get their schedule together, they need at least a couple of days, so (drum roll), what is the best day to take a listing active?
By a stretch, Wednesday came out on top. Take a listing active on Wednesday to give the serious buyers two days to plan before the weekend. The study showed an average $2,023 higher selling price and a shorter time on the market for Wednesday-activated listings. Thursday came in second, but Wednesday was much better when compared to activating the listing on the weekend.

Get the serious buyers to your listing on its first active weekend by taking the listing active on Wednesday.

What Do the Housing Numbers Say?

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I do statistics every quarter to try to get a handle on how to counsel our Buyers and Sellers. The numbers after the first 6 months seemed very dismal. All our numbers were down. Prices were down and numbers sold were also down. At the time however, I predicted that it was not an accurate picture of what our housing market was doing. It was based on what had happened in the past and did not accurately reflect what was currently happening. We were experiencing an active spring market with many homes being sold with multiple offers for over the asking prices. In the lower range I was comfortable pushing prices higher than the number were indicating, while in the upper register homes were languishing much longer than we would like.

I have just completed calculating the nine month numbers and indeed it shows rising prices in MOST of our markets as well as increases in the actual number of homes sold. Bethel is UP 7.1% with 11.9% more homes sold over the first 3 quarters of 2017. Brookfield values rose 4.6% with 5.8% more closings. New Milford up 6.7% with 11.8% more home sold year over year for the same period. Danbury was up 4.8%, New Fairfield 1.3%, Newtown 3.8%, Southbury 10.6%, Redding 11.9% with Ridgefield showing an even showing. Prices were up in every town with the exception of Woodbury, Roxbury and Sherman.

The actual numbers sold was not as encouraging. Bethel, Brookfield, New Milford saw substantial increases year over year while all of the other towns declined in the number of sales. Some smaller towns like Roxbury and Sherman saw substantial decreases in the number of homes sold but these towns sell so few homes annually that a change of 5-6 homes will tilt the numbers. Every other town saw declines in closings year over year.

Just returning from a Coldwell Banker retreat in Boca Raton for the company’s top producers across most of the nation, I found that we are virtually the only state that is still below the high values of 2006!! I knew that we were absolutely the last state to recover BUT I did not anticipate hearing that many of these markets was already 10%+ OVER their 2006 values. So, although we are seeing increasing prices, it is dwarfed by the national recovery. In summary, I find these results promising and positive but also very disappointing when measured against other regions.

My One and Only Political Statement

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The election season is once again upon us. This is when I find the worst in my friends and acquaintances. This is when we forget that whatever our beliefs, we are working for and believe in ALMOST the same things. It is just that our pathway to these results is different. I have a couple of points that I would like to make.

1- Be KIND. There is never, ever, a reason to be otherwise. You may disagree with another’s point of view but that does NOT give you the right to attack someone personally….especially in a public forum. I know this is not a huge threat but I have already defriended 2 people for hideous posts. We are a civilization so be civil!!

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I Don’t LIST Houses.

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Funny thing for a Realtor to say but my thought here is concrete. Many Realtors will tell Sellers anything they think they want to hear so that they can have listings. Listings are GOLD to a Realtor as they can use that listing to market from. There is a saying, List to Last.

My goal is to SELL houses. I tell Sellers what they need to hear in order to get their homes SOLD. Unless it is a high end unique property, any home should SELL within 2 weeks in any market. I have been doing this for 32 years. Recently I told a Seller, I couldn’t list the property until they moved out because they had 4 teenagers. Recently I told a different Seller, I couldn’t list their home until they got a dumpster and threw away or put into storage 80% of the “stuff” in their home. I have Sellers right now painting, redoing landscaping, repairing decks and much more in preparation for putting their homes on the Continue Reading

I Have a “THINKING SCHEDULE”.

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I am reading another important book that was given to me by my friend Filson Thomas, “How Successful People Think” by John Maxwell. Filson is a local john Maxwell trainer and speaker.

I have always coached my team that they need quiet time away from work and life to reflect. After all, when do we get the best innovative ideas? For me it is when I am digging in my garden, taking an early morning walk or sitting on the beach. For you it may be in the shower or at 3:00 in the morning. The point here is that it is when you are not thinking about what is urgent and needs to be done right now. You can see the problem already. If you do not schedule “THINKING TIME”, there is ALWAYS something taking up your brain space.Continue Reading

Are You a SHARK?

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My daughter sent me the best quote this week. The more I thought about it the more meaning it took for me. I had my TEAM at McCaffrey Professionals discuss it and also used it as a TABLE TOPIC for the Business Before Breakfast networking group that I facilitate for the Brookfield Chamber of Commerce.

At first glance the thought was, predatory, doing anything to succeed. Shark Tank has promoted this interpretation. Sharks, however, do not eat other sharks- except on that show. Sharks hunt to eat, with an occasional accidental chomp on an unlucky swimmer. I contend that these shark attacks are accidental mistakes. Of course I haven’t interviewed the culprits for confirming evidence.

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Fall is the Time For New Year’s Resolutions

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Fall is really the beginning of the year according to my biological clock. From years of starting a new school year myself to those years where my kids started a new school year, it seems like it is time to begin again. I get a burst of energy this time of year, cleaning out, starting new projects at home and at work. I know many people use January 1st as this benchmark but that seems sounds counterintuitive to me. Other use the first day of spring, or the first day of summer. I have different goals and different energy levels during each season. I know, for example, that I tend to hibernate in January and February because of the weather and short days. It is NOT the time for me to institute new goals or initiatives.

My Real Estate life and business is divided into quarters, not season. It just happens that this last quarter is when I feel the urge to grow and change. It is when I get ready to get ready. I know that if I do not POWER THROUGH the next 3 months, the spring market will not be my friend and I will not have closings (income) until June or July. Our sales cycle is at least 60-90 days from the time you list a home or meet a new buyer to the time you actually see income. Of course it can be a lot longer than that.Continue Reading

Underground Oil Tanks

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I got a call today from someone who needed advice. First of all I love it when someone calls and the first thing they say is I’m not selling my house right now. We are always here for our community to answer any and all questions HOUSE. Her question was,

” I am going to remove my oil tank but was wondering if we should abandon it or take it out?”

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