Time To Buy before FHFA makes Changes

To your Success 9-26-2011 from Joe New on Vimeo.

Posted in Joe's Monday Message

September Top Producer Interview

This month’s TalkJet interview is with;

Terry Moerler

The Moerler Team Keller Williams Westlake Village

340 N. Westlake Blvd., Suite 100

Westlake Village, CA 91362

www.themoerlerteam.com

terry@themoerlerteam.com

805-376-2999

Terry is a 32 year real estate veteran who was a mortgage lender prior to become a REALTOR.

Terry’s market is Thousand Oaks, CA, located between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara with a population of 125,000 and an average sales price of $550,000.

PRODUCTION:

2008 $50M 80 units

2009 $44M 74 units

2010 $35M 69 units

TERRY’S 3 “UNIQUE ABILITIES”:

1) Ability to counsel. The art of going deep with the client to figure out “what’s really important to them.”

2) Negotiation skills: Terry loves the “art of the deal.”

3) Ability to ensure a very smooth transaction. (That truly is the key to getting things closed in today’s market).

MARKETING STRATEGY:

Terry doesn’t spend a lot on direct marketing; instead she spends money on her past clients.

Taking them to events that benefit a charity; wine tastings, boat rides on the lake, her annual

client party (where the past two years she set up her green screen and did client testimonials).

VIDEO:

Terry records “evergreen” videos (that have an indefinite shelf life). Specifically, she posts

“Happy Birthday” videos for her 2,000 Facebook friends, and can directly attribute three sales to them!

(DownLoad mp3)

Posted in Top Producer

“Better Together” (Helping Each Other)

Posted By: www.coachbillhart.com

Posted in Productivity

3 Things Everyone Wants to Know About You

Lou Holtz is one of the most quoted foot­ball coaches in his­tory. One of my favorite Lou Holtz quotes is actu­ally a series of three questions.

There are 3 things that every­body wants to know about you:

1) Are you com­mit­ted to excel­lence?
2) Do you care about me?
3) Can I trust you?

If you’re won­der­ing how oth­ers might answer these ques­tions about you, you might first want to ask them of yourself.

1) Are you com­mit­ted to excellence?

How do you define excel­lence in your life? In your work? In your rela­tion­ships? Do you accept medi­oc­rity in any area that you pro­fess to value? Com­mit­ment breeds action. If you are truly “com­mit­ted” to some­thing, it will show through your actions. What actions are you cur­rently tak­ing that show you are com­mit­ted to excellence?

2) Do you care about me?

Do you gen­uinely care about other peo­ple? Are you con­cerned about their con­cerns? Is their well-being impor­tant to you? If so, what are you doing about it? How do you show other peo­ple that you care about them? Words are cheap — if you care, do some­thing to show it. If you don’t care….well, you might be able to fake it for a while, but peo­ple will even­tu­ally real­ize the truth.

3) Can I trust you?

I believe that if you are com­mit­ted to excel­lence and you truly care about other peo­ple, then you can be trusted. I know that I trust peo­ple who are com­mit­ted to excel­lence and who care about me.

Think about your response to these three ques­tions as they relate to each per­son you encounter today. Then observe how your response to each of these ques­tions impacts the actions you take through­out the day.

The results may sur­prise you.

Posted By: www.irrefutablesuccess.com

Posted in Championship Living

WHAT DRIVES YOU AS A LEADER?

I have always been driven to achieve. According to the Strengths Finder Assessment, achievement is one of my top strengths. I don’t know whether I was wired that way from the beginning, or my propensity toward achievement came out of my upbringing.

As a kid growing up in seven different countries, I always found myself as the new kid on the block. I discovered that one of the quickest ways to get noticed was to achieve. The more challenging the achievement, the better. Most kids want to be noticed and I was no different.

Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate just how critical it is to know what “fuels” the things we do. And it’s not as obvious as you might think. In my case, I know it’s not bad to achieve great things. But what’s driving that achievement?

I’ve seen leaders who operated within their strength areas—but for unhealthy reasons. It might not show right away, but eventually the unhealthy drive starts to show its cracks.

Here’s a short list of destructive fuels that leaders often use, even in the church:

• People pleasing
• Power and control
• Image Management
• Financial success
• Jealousy

Unhealthy drive is like using steroids to enhance your performance—you get nice, short-term results but with tragic long-term consequences. Get it wrong and you leave a lot of pain and hurt in your wake. Get it right and watch how God brings renewed life.

Here’s a list of four questions that I work through when I am not sure what is really driving me:

1. Am I using my strengths for the good of the project or the organization, or am I mainly seeking affirmation from outside sources like my boss or peers?
2. What is my true motivation for working on this project? Is it for the sake of others and the bigger picture or just to elevate my own status?
3. Does what I’m trying to do line up with who God designed me to be? I’ve had to step away from getting involved in some attractive initiatives, just because they were so far off from who God made me to be. Although the success of the project would have been great, I know that I would have been achieving for the sake of achieving, not out of being faithful to God.
4. If this project fails, how much of my sense of self-worth is in it? I know this seems sophomoric, but at a basic level it’s core to leading from a healthy place. No matter how far I fall, I know my identity and worth is still rooted in God’s unchanging love.

Unhealthy achievement (or the unhealthy pursuit of anything, even when you’re using your unique strengths) can take its toll on you. I make sure I’m in relationship with people who know me. I have a small group that has an open to door to call me out when I need to be called out. They know my dysfunctions, confront me when needed, and keep me grounded.

The challenge is to first be candid with yourself about what fuels you and then replace it with the only fuel source worthy of a Christian leader—love of God and love of people. Anything short of that is a cheap imitation of the real thing. It never pays to run on anything else … ever

Posted By: michaelhyatt.com

Posted in Leadership

Rates Stay Low, BUT Will Costs Go Up?

We are enjoying extremely low interest rates, for sure. With the global economy, the national economy and unemployment where they are, no one is predicting a dramatic change in rates any time soon. BUT, on Monday, the Obama Administration floated out some interesting proposals they are considering through the Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Edward DeMarco. It appears that two significant changes in housing financing are on the table.

You should know that FHFA is the new regulator that is overseeing the restoration of viability of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They are charged with reducing the risk on loans delivered to the GSEs in order to protect the U.S. taxpayer.

In a speech this past Monday, Mr. DeMarco mentioned two potential changes:

Increasing the role of the private sector to lessen the risk held by the public sector.

The method mentioned was increasing the insurance coverages assumed by the PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) companies. One result could be higher insurance rates for loans where customers put less than 20% down. The second wrinkle is potentially more damaging…the idea that PMI coverage may be required on loans with 21%-25% (maybe even 30%) down! Clearly, this is an attempt to get more fee income to the MI companies to entice them to remain viable and continue to serve those with less than 20% down. Regardless, the net result is that more people will have to pay more money for private mortgage insurance. “How much?” and “To what extent?” is yet to be defined; however, more costs to more people is bad.

Adjusting fees.

Recognize that the GSEs charge fees. Explaining what they are and why they exist is a topic for a different day. Suffice to say, today, fees are fairly standard geographically speaking. Mr. DeMarco is talking about adjusting the fees (i.e., increasing them) for areas that have proven more risky. This proposal means the hardest hit areas will have the most difficult time recovering because the increased fees always get passed on to the consumer. Rather than “spread the risk”, FHFA is talking about punishing the defenseless.

The predictable outcome of these “strategies” is higher costs to the consumer which makes buying a home more expensive. As costs go up, desire to buy goes down (as does the borrower’s ability to be approved for a mortgage).

Message: Buy sooner rather than later!
Posted By: KCMBlog.com

Posted in Keeping Current Matters