December 2008 Weekly Motivational Ideas!
Inspirations that I hope will help you make more $$!!
 
Sam		 Dear Sam,
 
Thanksgiving is over so now we can start promoting some great Christmas home values!
 
This Christmas, let's all promote some great homes that would be just the right Christmas present.  Publish your listings with Christmas decorations and you can also mention that you'll throw in the big bow to set if off for them for Christmas.
 
Our economy and our industry need some new buyers and now's the perfect time to do this with a festive splash!
 
 housepresent
 
You probably won't be able to afford a bow like this but you might be able to put on a nice Christmas Wreath.  This is also a great way to show off your listings!
 
To help your buyers really get excited about a new home for Christmas, ask them to call me for a quick pre-approval and smooth and easy loan closing.
 
Remember that our system for processing loans is just what your buyers and you need to get through the holidays.  Our pod processing system with our agent help desk is designed to keep rolling along while the other lenders bog down with processors taking off for vacation leaving you out in the cold...
  
Call me and we'll show you how mortgage loans are supposed to be processed!
 
Thanks for your business.

Sam Thompson
Senior Mortgage Advisor
President's Club Member 2007
Carolina Mortgage 
 
843-230-7929
__________________
 
Fresh approach for your buyer interviews!
 
 
 
interviewers 
 Quality Buyer Interviews! 
 
The key to finding the perfect home for your buyers is to take more time up-front getting to know them better and probing for more about their preferences for now and in their future.  When you do this, you are going to find better homes for your buyers and close them faster too!
 
I have never been a realtor but I have interviewed over 100 people throughout my career for positions and here's how we did it...
 
We had standard questions and we always had 2 interviewers for each candidate.  One asked the questions and the other wrote their answers.
 
The questions were mostly open-ended questions that were always written to get the candidate to tell about a time when they did something or about a situation and how they handled it.  We wanted to know about some demonstrated tasks, not how they think they would perform in a hypothetical setting...
 
This type of interview can be HUGE for you because people love to talk about themselves (don't you?) and this helps them do that so you build better rapport.
 
In case you are interested in this concept, here's 12 questions I thought of for your buyer interviews:
  1. Tell me about your Thanksgiving dinner; where did you have it? (stop and listen after each question) How did the preparation go?  Was the kitchen adequate?  What kind of kitchen are you leaning towards now?  Are there any features of the kitchen that you are looking for in particular?
  2. Tell me about your childhood home; how big was it and did you have your own bedroom?  How many bathrooms did your home have?  Do you want your kids to have their own rooms or to share a room?  What's your thoughts about a 2 story house?
  3. What kinds of schools did you attend when you were growing up?  Were your schools near your home?  Have you visited the schools that your children might attend next year?  If not, do you want to?  (this is a great activity to help you build rapport and meet tons of teachers and other parents too!)  Do you have any preferences for the schools yet?
  4. Tell me about your experiences playing in your yard; was it a big yard?  What kind of games did you play?  Is the yard for your next home a priority?
  5. How many homes have you ever lived in with a fireplace?  Who cut the firewood and brought in the wood and got the fires going?  Do you want a fireplace now?  Wood-burning or gas?
  6. Did you ever have to cut the grass or rake leaves when you were growing up?  Did you like doing those kinds of things?  What about gardening?  What kind of yard does your perfect home have?
  7. What kind of heat do you have in your apartment now?  Have you had other types in previous homes?  Which types do you prefer for your next home?
  8. Have you ever had a garage or a carport?  Is that something that you think you would like to have now?  How many cars do you own?
  9. Have you ever had a formal living and/or dining room?  Did you use them often?  Do you like to entertain?  Does your dream house have formal areas?
  10. Have you ever lived in a neighborhood with close neighbors?  Did you like living close to others or do you prefer living in the country setting away from others?
  11. What kind of sports or activities did you do growing up?  Are your kids following in your footsteps?  So a local ball field is going to be a high priority for your family?
  12. Did you or your husband work on cars or have a workshop in your last home or when growing up?  Was that something that you or he enjoyed doing?  Is this something that we should add to your wish list too?
    13.
I think these kinds of questions will help you get to know your buyers much better and these questions will help your buyers really understand the kind of home that they are really looking for too.  By digging deeper into their inner feelings and past experiences, I think you are going to quickly find them the perfect house that they will be anxious to buy with you.
 
This helps you get to their "emotional wants" and that is an important key to sales!
 
Get a colleague to take notes for your next buyer interview and watch how you do this and you can return the favor for them when they need a "note taker".  This process will impress your buyers right out of the shoot!
 
When you do, call me so I can help you pre-approve them as part of your interview process!!
 
  
 



Tip of the Week:  It's Apartment Dwellers Time!
 
 
 
 
apartmentTrex 
Apartment Dwellers Might be Ready to Move!
 
My wife and I used to live in an apartment for 5 years right after we got married and while we never had a T-Rex living beside us like in the picture above, we did have some loud and obnoxious neighbors making our lifes miserable.  For the most part, apartment living was okay but at one point, the guy living below us was working on cars right below our 2nd floor patio!  Putting up with neighbors with loud sterios was the most annoying thing we had to deal with in those days.
 
We also had an angry husband shoot out the glass door below us with a shotgun trying to get his wife out who was inside with her boyfriend.  I actually went downstairs and tried to talk some sense to the husband who was still holding the shotgun!!  When I finally realized how dangerous this situation had become, I quickly retreated back to my apartment and called the cops.  My neighbor across the courtyard was watching and had been screaming to the police on the phone the whole time.
 
Needless to say, as soon as we saved enough for a down payment to get our first house to get out, we did!
 
Back then, interest rates were around 18% and there were no 100% financing options or $7500 first-time buyer tax credits!
 
With conditions just right for apartment dwellers to move up into a nice house and out of a situation that they are tired of, now is the time to prospect for as many apartment dwellers as you can.  Do this with windshield flyers or with a postcard mailer campaign to the "Current Resident" to all of the apartment addresses in your area.  By addressing to the current resident, you are sure that it will be delivered and this keeps your mailing list current and simple.
 
Also, check out the "Housing Wanted" sections on www.Craigslist.com and in the local papers for apartment dwellers. 
  1. When you do, promote the $7500 tax credit for first-time home buyers (anyone that has not owned a home in at least 3 years).
  2. Also, promote the great mortgage rates below 6% available now with the FED's most recent mortgage bailout plan.
  3. And promote a few properties that could be financed for approximately the same monthly mortgage amount that would represent what those apartment dwellers are paying in their monthly rent.
    4.
In order to increase your chances of getting some prospects that are ready to move out of their apartment, add a prize drawing chance from all of those that signed-up to receive your "Just Listed--Hot List" email alert system.  This can easily be done using your MLS prospecting manager program once you get their email addresses and some particulars about the type home they want.
 
Also, try to get them in your office as soon as you can so you can really interview them right so you are able to customize their searches to their real wants and needs as mentioned above.
 
You can also plug in my cell phone number too in your advertisements if you want so I can pre-approve these prospects for you!!  Let's work together with this idea and make some sales to start the new year off right!
 
 
Weekly Mortgage Commentary Snippet
Rate Lock Advisory -  Friday, Nov 18th

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Friday's bond market has opened up slightly for what appears will be a very uneventful day in the markets. The stock markets have been fluctuating between positive and negative ground but at the moment are showing relatively minor losses with the Dow down 14 points and the Nasdaq down 17 points. The bond market is currently up 4/32, but we will still see a noticeable increase in this morning's mortgage rates as traders balance portfolios after a fairly volatile week.

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