Some consider real estate agents the 'keykeepers' and otherwise do a lot of nothing when working with our clients, but that is where we let our clients tread into dangerous territory. If your Realtor is doing their job, they should be anticipating problems and heading them off before you even know they were a problem - RISK MITIGATION!

A lot of this effort is thankless, and many times the client doesn't know it was done, unless it is needed at some point in the process in order to put out a fire - we have been using that term a lot lately. Instead of thinking of Realtors as fire-fighters, for a second, think of us as the smoke alarm that goes off before the fire starts. Let's jump into the practical, real-world application of this as it pertains to real estate.

The title sounds dire, but this situation warrants a warning like this. I would rather, despite the saturation of this in the news, you hear it again than not hear it at all. Read on...

Keeping up with the transparent nature of my real estate business (through this blog), one medium I have not touched upon is Email. I have educated other Realtors and clients on how to list a home, the process of listing and buying, and so much more; but across these types of interactions are the communications that tend to happen through email. This starts at first communication, usually that first communication is a thorough breakdown of the market, my marketing, the lending of resources and tools, and so much more. That is what I want to tell you more about.

My goal with this post is to show you the ways I jam pack my emails with education and value so buyers and sellers get the most out of these communications. I intend to make you understand why my emails have been complimented time and time again as being thorough, useful, and integral in the start of a long-term relationship.

Continuing the Game Plan, your home would already be prepared to go on the market. As the seller, you should have a signed contract, a fixed, cleaned, and staged home, and professional-quality photographs (if not, go back). You should also have a detailed and thorough description written, room features and dimensions already taken, and all the supplements necessary to get the home sold.

Now that your listing is promotion ready, it is time to begin an Internet marketing plan to knock out the competition. In an effort to achieve organic growth on a small scale, there are some key websites that will get the word out there more effectively than others. Most are common knowledge, but some might be new to you. Those that are not so common, set my business apart from the rest. Despite my disclosure of all my 'little secrets', there is still an innate understanding of how these websites work together that differentiates myself from the Realtors in town.

So, now that we understand how important the Internet is, where do I go as a Realtor or a seller, for the most impact?

This is by no means all-encompassing. The Internet is a vast playground, and if you seek, you shall find. I have taken this marketing plan and brought it a step further, by learning the nuances of real estate analytics on this small scale. That can be covered in another blog post in the future.

I would also suggest combining this with a physical marketing plan, including open houses, direct mail, and other ads that further promote you and your listings (or your home).

Learning how to work these websites together, takes practice, but is a small hurdle for a Realtor new to technology, or this Game Plan.

This article is the last one of several about Listing Real Estate - The Game-Plan. If you want to continue to learn more about Listing Real Estate, there will be more to come from your's truly.

In the context of real estate, the Credit Score is a make-or-break factor when it comes to qualifying for financing for a home, or other purchase. Typically, I tell buyers and sellers to be prepared 6 months or more in advance, but when it comes to fixing your credit, a couple of years might be required. Let's talk about credit:

This advice comes from a good place, the place where it is necessary to get realistic and make good choices. If you are a seller in a tight position, give your home the justice it deserves and price the home accordingly. It will result in reduced stress, and a quicker process. It might even give you leverage during proceeding negotiations. But either way, it will help get the home SOLD.

For anyone who has sold a home through traditional real estate means, i.e. hiring a Realtor, you have likely dealt with the inconveniences of the whole process. You have made sure to clean up in the mornings, left personal belongings in a safe place, left the house at the drop of a hat, and made sure to make plans for the expected Sunday Open House that was pushed by your Realtor.

There are two types of open houses, broker open houses, and public open houses.

Broker Open Houses are used to showcase a listing to other Realtors. If another Realtor has a client looking in your price point, this is a valuable way for them to see the home without having to drag the client there, also known as a 'preview'.

Public Open Houses, the topic of this post, are intended to showcase the listing to the public. This might include neighbors, buyers, or just someone that was driving by and noticed the open house sign.

Ask the National Association of Realtors, which reported that, in 2014, only 9% of buyers found the home they eventually purchased at an open house. That’s down from 16% in 2004. To put that in perspective, if your home is a hotly desired listing, and you have, say 10 people come through the home for the open house (which is a LOT), that means that there is a chance that 1 of those buyers actually purchases the home. Again, the assumption here is that 10 visit.

Now, let me be clear, this blog post is not intended to stop homeowners from giving the keys to a Realtor to host an open house. Clearly there is some value, albeit a small amount.

Let's back up: When you first list your home, immediately it is marketed all over the place, ideally creating some level of Organic Growth. This immediate pop of activity quickly subsides, say about two weeks later. The real benefit to hosting this open house, and hopefully strategically scheduling it so it isn't immediate, is to reinvigorate the activity on the Internet for buyers who are seeking something similar to your listing/home.

The case I am making here is simple, let your Realtor host an open house, but make sure it coincides with something substantial, such as a new listing, or a price reduction.

Depending on your local laws, some of these strategies might help get MORE out of the open house (and set you up to counter your real estate agent when they request hosting an open house).

It goes to show that there is always some way to help generate more buzz for anything a Realtor does. If leveraging multiple marketing strategies for your home, the open houses can have a more desirable effect on their listings.

Realtors use open houses as a tool to acquire new buyers and new business. There are a few reasons why doing an open house is a good idea for a Realtor. It shows they are busy. They can pick up new clients. They can further market themselves through their town, through signage.

Realtors thrive when their face is continually in the public. This tends to lead to an insistence to host an open house for every listing, sometimes as often as every two weeks. This frequency can be beneficial once the additional marketing is considered, but only if it is done the right way.

Ultimately, as the homeowner, you decide who shows your house, and when. If you aren't home on Sundays, and an open house is not an inconvenience, then let the Realtor host it. But make sure they implement some supplemental marketing in order to increase the efficacy of the open house. Otherwise, you leave the house for nothing.

I may get some backlash for the secrets I will be uncovering about the real estate business, but I think full-disclosure is warranted in a business that is shrouded by misconceptions, many of which may be intentional. Here are some statements you might hear from your Realtor and the things you should look for:

"Your home isn't selling, we have to reduce the price"
This might be true in some cases, but how can a seller understand why a price reduction is requested? In 9 out of 10 cases when this happens, the seller just hears the words,  "We need a price reduction." Instead, imagine if the seller heard, "We need a price reduction, here are the numbers and feedback, all in one place." All of a sudden, this request becomes more manageable and understandable.

"I cannot price your home at the price you want"
The Realtor may not want to sell the home at your price, but they can do anything you want. Taking a straightforward and open approach avoids running into a lie. Just tell the truth people! Try this instead, "I understand you want this higher price, but I do not take listings that are overpriced. I would rather disappoint you now, than in 6 months."

"Zillow and Trulia are the best places to find real estate"
A lazy Realtor will say this. There are better tools out there to seek real estate, and the MLS is only the beginning. You Realtor should have other ways to find you homes to look at, otherwise they are neglecting a part of the market where opportunity abounds.

"I cannot take a cut on commission"
This is typically a false statement. There may be restrictions because of the company, but if a manager is going to lose a listing because of a lower commission, they will accept it. This does not address the fact that a Realtor willing to take a lower commission will likely put a fraction of the effort required because the payout decreases, and with it the tools and money spent decreases, but that is another topic.

"I cannot spend money on marketing on the internet"
Having the know-how to market listings effectively is something lost by many Realtors. Instead, they opt to say they cannot, when really they mean to say they don't know how. Marketing through the Internet is a skill that is honed by few, but those that can use their money to effectively target buyers will get ahead of the pack, quickly.

"Listing your home in the newspaper and through direct mail will get it sold"
Physical advertising is dead. Newspaper and direct mail advertising are for the benefit of the Realtor, not the seller, in most cases. According to NAR, in 2014 92% of buyers used the internet in some way in their home search process. The Internet is IN.

"Open houses are for the benefit of the homeowner and getting the home sold"
A minute percentage of buyers purchase the home they see at an open house (According to NAR, in 2014 only 9% of buyers found the home at an open house that they purchased). Most buyers prefer to search the internet and see inventory with their Realtor. The open house is a branding tool for Realtors and to recruit clients. However, there ARE benefits to an open house for the seller, though they are not discussed often enough. When a Realtor markets the open house, if they are doing it right, they should be promoting the open house in ways that they might only be able to do for an open house, such as an Open House Promotion. This is where the seller sees benefit, specifically through these additional promotional means.

"I can only show you homes within X miles of my office"
Real estate has become a much less location-restricted business. Realtors can now sell and buy across town, county, and state lines. If you get this line from Realtors, they are being deceptive. The better way to convey this, is, "I can only show you homes within X miles of my office because my knowledge of that area is minimal. You would be better served using a Realtor with expertise in that location."

"I can take the photos that are better than a photographer"
A photographer should always be able to take better pictures than a Realtor, but that's not to say a Realtor can't take great pictures. Basically, they want to spend as little money as possible, and this would add to the expenses. As a seller, I would ask if the Realtor uses a DSLR camera with a wide-angle lens, and if they touch up the photos before putting them on the Internet. If they cannot do these things, demand a photographer.

"I am marketing the home on Zillow/Trulia/Realtor/major brokerage sites"
Inherently, when a home is put into MLS, your home will most likely be put on these major websites, no matter what. A decent Realtor should go far beyond these means of marketing. Ask questions about which other websites they are promoting your property to.

Assisting buyers and sellers in real estate is not easy. According to the National Association of Realtors, there are 1.167 million Realtors, or about 1 Realtor for every 300 people in the country. That is a LOT of Realtors. 80% of the Realtors get into the business thinking it is easy, unaware that there is a huge amount of necessary skill to be successful. If your Realtor says any of these things, find someone else. After all, there are so many Realtors, you should have no issues finding one!

Is the solution to a home with poor condition to avoid putting pictures of the interior? Absolutely not. Some buyers are looking for something in poor condition. Some buyers want a move-in condition home. If the kitchen is in poor condition but the rest of the home in great condition, and you refrain from putting the picture of the kitchen, you risk bringing buyers in looking for move-in condition by not being forward about it. In most cases, your best bet is to put all the pictures up, just make them look great.

It was the winter of 2014, and my buyer David was struggling to find the perfect condo to purchase that would fit his needs. This often happens in this business, and tends to lead to the loss of a client for a Realtor. In my case, I knew there must be more to do in order to get him something he would love.

His focus seemed to keep coming back to a condominium complex in Norwalk where we had seen multiple properties. We placed some offers, and even had an inspection on a unit, that ended up falling through because of the price we had placed -  the bank was not interested in what we (homeowner included) considered a good offer. Ultimately, there were no good options remaining there, and it was either wait, or take action.

The great thing about this market, is there are other transactions that don't get completed, called 'expired listings'. In this case, I recognized a unit that was on the market, that didn't get sold for reasons I couldn't comprehend (considering the price wasn't too high). Through a complex process, I was able to get in touch with the homeowner, Eliana. Eliana and her family were in dire straights, holding a mortgage they couldn't afford. They hadn't been able to sell because of the inability to get the money back that they had lost in a purchase when prices were higher. At times like this, my first thought is, 'How can we help this family?' There is no reason why a family should be held hostage by a liability like real estate, especially when there were options on the table.

Immediately I knew there was a solution that would get her and her family out, and get David a property in a complex he was very interested in. I approached David with this option, and we immediately placed an offer, off-market, that would get sent to the bank. I signed papers with Eliana and Dave, and we were off to the short-sale-races!

This transaction was not as easy as making a phone call, signing some papers, and sitting back - it was a difficult short sale that required negotiations with a bank that was difficult last time around (when Eliana had the home on the market previously). The first thing I needed to do was find Eliana an attorney that would make sure this came to fruition, and with some suggestion and seeking, I found the perfect firm. Now Eliana was well-represented, and just needed to make sure she did everything the attorney asked.

After several months of difficult work with the bank, as sometimes happens, we ran into an additional problem. Because this transaction was more difficult than others the law firm had dealt with, the attorney was requesting more money than the bank was offering. Of course, the seller had no money to give her. So there were options, but asking David to pitch in wouldn't have been fair. I knew I needed to step up - because this was a short sale, with no Realtor representation for the seller, I was going to get the whole commission (and a higher one at that), instead of the half I usually get during a transaction. So, to make up for the attorney's loss, I sacrificed part of my commission, knowing this was the last piece of the puzzle, to get it closed. This is not something I can do under normal circumstances, but in this case, it was feasible.

Ultimately, we closed the property successfully, and Eliana and her family were able to move on, and David was now situated in a condo, at a lower price than market value, where he was happy.

I come across many different scenarios in this business, and I never give up. Had I just said, 'let's wait' to David, we might have not found something for a long while. This type of complacency causes buyers to leave, and find the Realtor that will work for them. Instead, we got creative, and were rewarded for this unique strategy.