DC Real Estate and Area Events: February 2008

 WHAT HOME OWNERS WANT TO HEAR      

Your home is the best looking house in the neighborhood.

Your home is ready to be put on the market now.          

I can sell your home in less than 30 days.

I am the best real estate professional in my city and state.

I will charge you less than the average 6% commission fee than traditional brokerages charges.

Your home will sell for xxxx amounts of dollars. I am absolutely sure about it. I can tell just by looking at your home.                                                            

WHAT HOME OWNERS NEED TO HEAR       

Your home looks nice. But some light painting and some de-cluttering will make the house more spacious. Home buyers love to see houses that have a lt of space. They can't imagine how they will want to set up the house.

We need to bring in a professional home stager before we put this house on the market. A professional home stager will bring out the appeal of the house and make the house buyer ready.

If we price this house right along with a great marketing strategy,we should attract the best qualified buyer who will buy this house. 

As a real estate professional,I will use the Exit 84 point marketing strategy to sell your home. I know this neighborhood very well.

I charge 6% commission fee. A lot of real estate professional will not show your house if it is under 6% commission fee because it will be cutting into their commission. Pricing it 6% will improve the chances of getting many showings and finding not just the right buyer but the most qualified best buyer.

We need to do a CMA on your home. CMA is a comparative market analysis. CMA is not an appraisal. It is a opinion of value. I will compile data from comparables properties that are for sale,sold and expired to come up with the best list price for your property.

Looking for a Washington DC Real Estate Agent that will help you buy or sell your next house or want a "Free Real Estate Market Report" in your area of choice? Check out my website Houses for sale in Washington,DC. I can also be reached at Lanre Folayan "Buy Washington DC Real Estate" (EXIT PREMIER REALTY ... or Twitter http://twitter.com/DCHomesforsale. Please give me a call at 202-378-0283 (Direct) or 301-560-6700 x1154 (Office) at your earliest convenience. Thank you very much. Looking forward to helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day.  "Buy a home in Washington DC"

        So you are having a open house house for one of your listings or for either your fellow agent or broker. A couple walks through the door. They view the property. After they finishing viewing the house,you ask them. What do you think of the house? The couple loves it. So you then ask them "Are you working with a real estate agent? They say yes. But we all know that everybody that comes to your open house are not working with a real estate agent

        They just say that because they do not want to be bothered by real estate agents. So I want to know,should I still give them my business card? I say that because I don't want to be unethical. But at the same time,I don't want a couple who is probably a potential client to walk away. So what should I do to approach this situation and not be unethical? Is there a better way that I can handle this situation/ If you was my situation,what would you do? Any advice,tips or suggestions will be very helpful. Thank you very much for all of your comments in advance.

To receive a free list of "Houses for sale in Washington DC",please feel free to give me a call at your earliest convenience. I can be reached at (202) 378-0283 (Direct) or (301) 560-6700 x1154 (Office). I can also be reached online at www.buyandsellnewhomes.com and www.freelistofhomesforsale.com. Thank you very much. Lanre Folayan - Real Estate Professional - Exit Premier Realty. Looking forward to working with you and helping you make your home purchase a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. "Buy and sell a home in Washington DC"

       With spring approaching soon,some home buyers are going to be coming out from under the rock or box where they have been hiding for years ( Well! maybe they have not been hiding under a rock or box but I am sure you get what I'm trying to say ). And spring will be a great time to hold open houses since some home buyers don't like to shop for homes due to the sometimes 20 degrees below cold weather depending on where you live. ( Some of active rain readers are from all over the world so I am trying to get my point across to everybody ).

        So when home buyers come to your open house. After they finish viewing the house,before you don't want them to leave empty-handed. So what are some things that you can give to people who comes to your open house? I am glad you asked. Key is not just give them anything. But give them something that will make them want to get in contact with you whether through e-mail,telephone,your website,your blog,open house or walk-into your office. So here are some things that I came up with.

• CMA of your listing - Home buyers will be able to see that your listing is priced right or price under market value so that it can improve the chances of getting better offers and closing the deal quicker.
• Market report for that particular subdivision where your listing is-By home buyers seeing a list of homes for sale,sold and expired,home buyers definitely want to know if that particular neighborhood is a up and coming neighborhood or if the value of properties in the neighborhood are increasing or decreasing.
• Marketing/Promotional items - Ex: Pens,calendars,newsletters,mugs,notebooks,pens,recipes etc. NOTE: Make sure your contact information,company name and logo are one every promotional item.
• Current Real Estate/Mortgage News - Some home buyers don't know the real estate market in their area average interest rate on a home loan. So it is our jobs to educate homebuyers on both of these topics.
• Listing Packet - This packet will include everything about that particular subdivision/neighborhood- Ex: Homes for sale,sold and expired,schools,crime statistics,economy,restaurants,shops,transportation as well as weblinks to all the things that I just mentioned.
• Print out of "Six good reasons to buy a home now"-You can put it on stock paper or print it on brochures along with your name,contact information,company name,logo and contact information to make you look more professional. You can get "Six good reasons to buy a home now on www.realtor.org -Sorry but I don't know how to paste and copy the link.
• Sample profile of you along with your photo-Something brief. State your name,the name of the company you work for,how many years who have been practicing real estate,what do you offer home buyers and sellers who use your services,what city and state are your expertise and why anyone should use your services as a real estate agent?
• Business cards -Need I say more?

I feel like I missed something....I hate when that happens. If you feel that I missed something or if there is something else that you want to add,please feel free to respond with your comments. Thank you very much in advance.

To receive your free list of "Houses for sale in Washington,DC",please feel free to call me at your earliest convenience. I can be reached at 202-378-0283 (Direct ) or 301-560-6700 X1154 ( Office ). I can also be reached online on my websites www.buyandsellnewhomes.com and www.freelistofhomesforsale.com. Thank you very much. Looking forward to working with you and helping you make your home purchase a stress free and very happy one. Lanre Folayan- Real Estate Professional with Exit Premier Realty. "Buy and sell a home in Washington DC"

With foreclosure rate at a all time high,the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is promoting rules that would force lenders to make closing costs easier to understand and reveal payments to mortgage brokers.

 The proposal is less strict than the one that failed in 2002, but still would require lenders to provide an accurate good faith estimate that doesn't change by more than 10 percent. The most controversial portion of the proposal would require any lender payments to mortgage brokers to be noted on the good faith estimate. While some people feel that this is a good thing,some people opposes the rule change including Marc Savitt,president-elect of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers who says that "HUD's goal was to simplify the mortgage process, and what they are doing is anything but simplifying the process. But I want to know what do you think? Please reply with your comments.

To receive your free list of "Houses for sale in Washington,DC,please dont hesitate to give me a call. I can be reached at 202-378-0283 (Direct) or 301-560-6700 x1154 (Office). I can also be reached online on my websites www.buyandsellnewhomes.com and www.freelistofhomesforsale.com. Thank you very much. Looking forward to working with you and helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. Lanre Folayan- Real Estate Professional with Exit Premier Realty. "Buy and Sell a home in Washington DC"

So today I was doing my daily reading. All of a sudden telephone rings. I picked up the telephone and we start talking. The person said that they saw my profile on Active Rain. ( I was very happy to hear that -Finally somebody have found me. Take my picture off of the milk cartoon ) Happy only for like less than fifteen seconds? Why? The person was a telemarketer from one of those Referral Relocation companies. I forgot the name but he said that he was going to e-mail me some more information but he never did. ( If you all want to know,I will try to see if there is a way that I can find out )

He talked about their program. Why didn't I hang up the telephone on him? Well! I guess since I don't want nobody to do it to me. I do a lot of cold calling and get hang ups sometimes. He said that they are not a Real Estate Lead Generation Company ( I think he must've discovered how I feel about Real Estate Lead Generation Companies by reading one of my posts ). He said that there is no set up fee and you can cancel the contract whenever you want. But? ( I knew there was a caught )they charge a $59.95 monthly fee and 19% of your commission if the referral closes. What! Are you kidding me? So I asked him "What if for some reason I don't get no referrals from you. Do I have still have to pay $59.95 that month? He said yes. What. I felt like pulling my hair.

Only problem is I don't have no more hair to pull. I mean,I don't know about you but I am not one of the heirs to either Warren Buffett,Bill Gates or Carlos Slim Helu estate. ( Then again,I could be. I mean who ever would've thought that Barack Obama and Vice President Dick Chenney are relatives ) I don't have no money to give away. Heck,I don't have no money for me yet alone for some company that I don't know or have not even heard of. But I have thought about looking into relocation referral companies . So I want to know,do you or know anybody who uses relocation referral companies? And if so,is it working for you? Please let me know. I don't want eliminate a way that I could probably end up bringing me business. Thank you in advance for your comments.

To receive a free list of "Houses for sale in Washington DC,please don't hesitate to give me a call at your earliest convenience. I can be reached at 202-378-0283 (Direct) or (301) 560-6700 x1154 (Office). I can also be reached online at www.buyandsellnewhomes.com and www.freelistofhomesforsale.com. Thank you very much. Looking forward to working with you and helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. Lanre Folayan - Real Estate Professional with Exit Premier Realty. "Buy and sell a home in Washington DC"

Every home buyer looking to buy a house aren't just looking for a nice place to call home. They are looking for more than that. When you are out showing houses to your client or when you are holding a open house for one of your clients,try to sell them as much as you can about the neighborhood.

Doing that makes you look like a real estate expert in that particular neighborhoood. Clients will be impressed by your knowledge and they will feel very comfortable and safe that your are representing them as their buyer's agent or listing agent. So here are some of the things that you should really help sell your buyers and sellers on a neighborhood.

SCHOOLS - A family moving to a neighborhood wants to make sure their children are enrolled in a school where the test scores are high and they have a high graduation rate. A good website you can check is www.schoolsmatter.com 

CRIME STATISTICS - Everybody wants to live in a home that is located in a very safe neighborhood. ( But I will refer them to the police website and let them discover that one by themselves )

RESTAURANTS - People like to go out and eat. Whether it is anniversary,birthday,parties or something that people usually do once or twice a week.

SHOPPING - People love to shop ( Who doesn't )

HOME INVENTORY - People want to know if they are moving into a hot neighborhood. Also,they want to know if value of properties in the neighborhood are increasing. People who buy homes usually stay in their house five to seven years before they purchase another one. So even though you are just buying your home,you always want to think of resale value. Nobody wants to buy a home now and five years later down the road,there are no home buyers in the neighborhood. That's why its good and it is a must to always study your real estate market.

LOCATION - Everybody wants to live in a neighborhood that is a good location. To "buy a home in Washington,DC" can be a great investment. Washington,DC has just been named as one of the top cities for foreign investors. You can live with almost any imperfection in a home if you love the neighborhood and your neighborhoods. You can change everything else. But once brought,you cannot change your homes location.

ECONOMY/JOBS-More jobs in a neighborhood can help boost values of homes. It is said that there are 1.5 jobs for every single household.

TRANSPORTATION - People like to live not too far from home and close to the highway depending on how far they have to commute to work.

Knowing as much as you can about a neighborhood can help your clients buy and/or sell their home. It will make you look like the neighborhood expert that you say you are,your clients will be very impressed with your knowledge and professionalism that you displayed since you did a great job representing them,that not only will you get repeated business from it but lots of referrals as well. Don't we all want referrals? I know I do.

Looking for a Real Estate Agent that will help you buy and/or sell your next house? Want a "Free Real Estate Market Report" in your area of choice? Register on my website at DC Real Estate. I can also be reached at my new Active Rain Outside Blog www.GetDCSold.com -We will get it Sold. Your home that is. Twitter http://twitter.com/DCHomesforsale. Please give me a call at 202-378-0283 (Direct) or 301-560-6700 x1154 (Office) at your earliest convenience. Thank you very much. Looking forward to helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. "Buy home Washington DC" Zip codes 20019,20020,20032,20011

AREA HOMES Looking for just the right property? Click here for properties for sale in this area. more +

JUST LISTED! Tell us what you are looking for and we will send you new listings as soon as they hit the market.   more +

In this Real Estate Market,you have to hustle. Either you hustle or get left behind. So this is what hustle means to me.

• Hustle to me is telling people that you are going to do something and proving them wrong because they believe that you couldn't get it done in the first place.
• Hustle to me is thinking outside of the box.
• Hustle to me is going back to the basics and doing what got you here in the first place.
• Hustle to me is not giving up on something because you believed in it and everybody didn't.
• Hustle to me is prospecting like a politician who is trying to get your votes to win a election.
• Hustle to me is believing in yourself and telling yourself I can do anything as long as I truly believe in my heart that I can do it.
• Hustle to me is getting prospects to say "Yes"after they have said "No" more than hundred times.
• Hustle to me is the growth and change for the better.
• Hustle to me is sometimes missing lunch because you are afraid that you are going to miss out on a big sale.
• Hustle to me is over delivering more to your client now what they couldn't do for them the first time.
• Hustle to me is heaven because you are winning-You have to play to win all the time.
• Hustle to me is hell because you are losing. You might lose but you can learn from your losses and turn them into positive gains.

Update: Hustle is telling yourself that no matter what the situation I am going to win. Think big always.

                                   EVERYDAY I'M HUSTLING.

To receive your free list of "Houses for sale in Washington DC,please don't hesitate to give me a call at your earliest convenience. I can be reached at 202-378-0283 (Direct) or 301-560-6700 x1154 (Office). I can also be reached online on my websites www.buyandsellnewhomes.com and www.freelistofhomesforsale.com. Thank you very much. Looking forward to working with you and helping you make your home purchase a stress free and very happy one. Real Estate Professional Lanre Folayan with Exit Premier Realty. "Buy and sell a home in Washington DC"

       One of the first things that I do when I log into Active Rain is to check for referrals. Well,I did that to today and I discovered this site. I am sure some of you know it. But this is for the rest of the people who don't about this site. It is called www.classifiedflyerads.com It is supposed to be a tool that helps realtors,employers,auto dealers and service providers to promote their business.

     Also,this site allows you to create flyers via through mobile phone ( That's nice ) and allow it to be spotted to on a host of online directories and optimized for maximum exposure on the most popular search engines to promote their services. You can make free flyers. However to make more flyers,video tours and have your flyer with its own domain name,that is going to cost you some money. I just registered myself and I definitely plan on using this website for free first and later on upgrade to the standard version. And if anyone has been using this site,please give me some feedback. I would really appreciate it.

      To receive a free list of "Houses for sale in Washington DC",please give me a call at your earliest convenience. I can be reached at (202) 378-0283 (Direct) or (301) 560-6700 x1154 (Office). I  I can also be reached online on my websites www.buyandsellnewhomes.com and www.freelistofhomesforsale.com. Thank you very much. Looking forward to helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. Lanre Folayan- Real Estate Professional with Exit Premier Realty. "Buy and sell a home in Washington DC"

I just finished reading a post by Mrs.Tamara Inzunza Realtor -Alexandria,VA about your business plan which prompted me to review mine and see what I need to do to make it better. ( I track my business plan/goals every week ). Anyway,I was looking in my fast trac when I ran across this poem. It is by Edgar Guest. I really liked it. Sometimes things are not going our way and we need something to lift our spirits and motivate us. So I thought that I share this poem with you. I hope you all enjoy reading this.

                                                      EQUIPMENT

                                      Figure it out for yourself,my lad

                                     You've all that the greatest men have had,

                                     Two arms,two hands, two legs, two legs.

                                     And a brain to use if you would be wise.

                                     With this equipment they all began,

                                     Do start from the top and say "I can".

                                     Look them over,the wise and the great,

                                     They take their food from a common plate,

                                     And similiar knives and forks they use,

                                     With similar laces they tie their shoes,

                                     The world considers them brave and smart,

                                     But you've all they had when they made their start.

                                     You can truimph and come to skill.

                                     You can be great if you only will.

                                     You're well equipped for what fight you choose,

                                     You have arms and legs and a brain to use,

                                     And the man who has risen great deeds to do,

                                     Began his life with no more than you.

                                    You are the handicap you must face,

                                    You are the one who must choose his place,

                                    You must say where you want to go,

                                    How much you will study, the truth to know,

                                    God has equipped you for life,but He.

                                    Lets you decide what you want to be.

                                    Courage must come from the soul within,

                                    The man must furnish the will to win.

                                    So figure it out for yourself,my lad,

                                    You were born with all that the great have had.

                                    With your equipment they all began.

                                    Get Hold of yourself,and say: "I can."        

                                                   EDGAR GUEST                             

To receive your free list of "Houses for sale in Washington,DC"please give me a call at your earliest convenience. I can be reached at (202) 378-0283 (Direct) or (301) 560-6700 x1154 (Office). I can also be reached online at www.buyandsellnewhomes.com/ Thank you very much. Looking forward to working with you and helping you make your home purchase or sale a stress free and very happy one. Have a great day. Lanre Folayan -Real Estate Professional with Exit Premier Realty. Buy a home in Washington DC