All Forum Posts by: Mark Towey

@Bruce Lynn Bruce, I first want to say thank you for responding to my post. This is all very good advice and as a young and still currently inexperienced agent I can definitely work to put some of these things into practice. Just a couple questions I got for you based off your response. 
1. what do you men's PODs set up in the neighborhood?

2. When you first started out as a realtor, woukd you do a lot of cold calling or would you say more of your business came from your sphere of influence?

Hey everyone — I’m 25 and coming up on 2 years licensed this June. To be fully transparent, I haven’t been as successful or busy as I expected in my first couple of years — I had 5 closings last year and just 1 so far this year. That said, I’m committed to building this the right way and staying in it for the long haul.

One of the main strategies I’ve started doubling down on is circle prospecting. My current approach is pretty simple:

After someone in my company closes a home, I pull the surrounding homeowners and give them a call. I let them know the home just sold nearby, then I ask:
“Is there anything in the world I can do for you today?”
If they say no, I follow up with:
“If or when you decide to make a move or buy, do you already have an agent you’d work with?”
If they don’t, I ask if it’s okay to stay in touch.

It feels genuine to me and doesn’t come off too salesy — I’m just trying to build relationships and grow long term.

So I wanted to ask:

• Have any of you had success with circle prospecting?

• What tweaks or follow-up systems have worked for you?

• Are there any agents or coaches you follow who consistently share good advice or ideas around this?

Appreciate any feedback — just trying to keep sharpening my tools and surround myself (even digitally) with people who are doing the work.

 Sonny,

How do they randomly audit loans, what does that entail? 

Hey Christian, in regards to the LTV, are you saying that he may not have enough equity in the home yet to do a HELOC?

I do see how that makes sense from the seller side of things but for the buyer I am confused still. The whole refinance process is not clear to me as I haven't gone through it myself or see it first hand with a client of mine doing it. From what I understand, you have an appraiser go out and give their opinion of what it could sell for but what happens from there? I appreciate your info but I just can't seem to totally wrap my brain around refinancing  @Nicholas L.

 Hello Nicholas, question on your explanation of a possible seller finance plan for Nate. What would be the point of setting it up like a 30-year amortization schedule at the 6.5% rate if he is going to have to pay it off in full in 5 years anyways with that balloon statement you mentioned? I myself am also trying to learn more about seller financing and you seem to be well educated so just what I wondered about your proposition!

 Thanks for the reply Micheal. Question on that driving for dollars as I have thought of doing that as well. When you did, "drive for dollars" did you pick a specific neighborhood that you ideally wanting listings in or that you were familiar with? Or was it just you driving around a side of the city you work in until you found those distressed properties to call on?

@Bruce Lynn Hey Bruce thanks for this advice. Are saying it's a better idea of figuring out and going after a specific niche or group of people who have a reason to downsize or need a different type of home? Would you recommend sending out mailers to a demographic like this once I decide one or cold calling them? Anything more you can give on this is much appreciated 

Hello and welcome to the industry Hillary! What I have learned the most in the almost 2 years I have been a real estate agent is make sure you are doing actual "work" It can be easy to be make it seem like its work to yourself when creating content or talking to colleagues. But that alone is not quality work, make your calls, provide value and always be learning. 

What would be your advice in choosing a neighborhood or area to start farming to gain leads? I had read that you should look for a neighborhood where there have been at least 5% of the total homes in that given area sold in the past year. As well as making sure there is not a dominant agent in the area. What other items should I look for or know about the farming process before getting started?