Zillow Acquires Showing Time

Feb 20,2021 / By John Reilly / No Comment

Adding Lockbox To the Equation

There have been a ton of articles this week concerning the Zillow acquisition of Showing Time for a cool half-billion dollars. My eye caught an article in Inman that noted “Before the consumer even begins the transaction, there are two key parts to the “pre-transaction” phase of the real estate ecosystem, both search and showing. Zillow now owns both of those with the leading consumer search portal and now the acquisition of ShowingTime. “

“If they added lockbox, that would be the end of that,” Gary Keller said. “That would be it. I could find a home, I could make an appointment, I could go see it, and I could get inside it.”

As soon as I read the Keller comment about adding the lockbox element, I texted my friend Jonathan Martis, CEO of Kleard with this midnight prediction: “Get ready, Jonathan, I believe your phone is going to start ringing off the wall with calls from acquisition suitors.”

And I hope I am correct. Jonathan and his wife have worked hard over the years to create and fine tune the Kleard lockbox system including the new Self-Tour for Rentals & Real Estate –

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Data is the New Solar

Jul 16,2020 / By Saul Klein / No Comment

Data is the New Solar…

Write this down…
Put it where you can see it
Look at it every day.

Two authors who helped contextualize my ideas around data collection, display, and monetization are Alvin Toffler, and John Hagel.

Over the years, as I have worked to evangelize the concepts of data and information and its value to individuals, and to society, I, along with others, have been guilty of referring to data as the “new oil.”

In this article, John Hagel explains a powerful nuance…Solar is renewable…Oil is not.

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Property Management Outline

Dec 2,2018 / By Saul Klein / 1 Comment

Property Management Outline

I owned and operated a property management division at my brokerage for over 20 years (with the assistance of my wife Janie :-).

We sold that “book of business” over 12 years ago and continue to get a check every month…got the most recent one yesterday

Managing a property is like managing a business. To do it right you must have a plan, and you must execute your plan. Each property you manage, each new tenant you meet will teach you more about the business of property management.

Remember that you will never know “all there is to know” about property management. Like everything in real estate, there is always more to learn. The more you read and study, the better off you will be. Landlord tenant law and contract law varies from state to state. A good source of information on the subject will be your local Apartment Association and your local Association of Realtors. This is where you earn your keep as an investor. It can make you or break you.

Outline

I. Establishing the Rental Schedule

II. Marketing – Advertising and Merchandising

III. Tenant Selection

IV. Maintenance

A. Preventive

B. Corrective

V. Record Keeping and Tax Benefits

VI. Leases and Rental Agreements

VII. Landlord-Tenant Relations

A. Rental Increases

B. Security Deposits

C. Termination of Tenancy

D. Eviction

E. Discrimination

VIII. Owners Goals

A. Income

1. Quantity

2. Quality

3. Durability

B. Appreciation – Based on income

1. I = R X V

2. V = GSI X GM

C. Tax Benefits

IX. Investment Property Types

A. Single Family/Condo/Co-op

B. Duplex/Triplex/Fourplex

C. Multi-Unit Residential

D. Office Building

E. Hotels and Motels

F. Shopping Centers

G. Mixed Use Buildings

X. Insurance

XI. Operational Plan

XII. Resident Manager

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Home Sales Decline in September

Oct 19,2018 / By Saul Klein / No Comment

According to MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni, “led by a 5.4 percent decline in the South, the drop in existing-home sales in September was likely somewhat related to the impact from Hurricane Florence. Beyond that, housing demand still remains strong, and is bolstered by an incredibly healthy job market. The lack of overall supply, at only 4.4 months at the current sales pace, continues to be the housing market’s primary constraint.”

Paradigm Shift

The Future of the Internet

Oct 19,2018 / By Saul Klein / No Comment

The Future of the Internet…

“If Security is not integral to an information technology architecture, that structure must be replaced.

The original distributed Internet architecture sufficed when everything was “free,” as the Internet was not a vehicle for transactions.”

George Gilder – “Life After Google., The Fall of Big Data And the Rise of the Blockchain Economy”

Note:
For those who remember the early Internet, you recall that there was absolutely no marketing or advertising allowed. One was “flamed” into oblivion if they tried it.

The Internet was built for communication in the event of a nuclear holocaust, and not for commerce. Dot Com was about COMmunication, and not COMmerce.

CMLS 2018

Oct 19,2018 / By Saul Klein / No Comment

CMLS 2018 – Council Of Multiple Listing Services

We have all of the video and interviews we recorded while in Orlando. If you are interested in MLS (and what real estate professional is not), check out these interviews.

Thanks to Denee Evans, CEO of CMLS for making our job reporting on the event so easy.

Everything is right here:

https://www.realtown.com/cmls2018

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Long Island Board of REALTORS and MLSLI

Oct 16,2018 / By Saul Klein / No Comment

Buildings of the Day

Long Island Board of REALTORS and MLSLI. Best bagels in the world!

I hear Joe Mottola, long time CEO of the Long Island Board is retiring.

Buildings

Building of the Day

Oct 15,2018 / By Saul Klein / No Comment

Buildings are part of the culture of our REALTOR Organizations, which is only right, since we are all about the real estate

Brunswick – Glynn County Board of REALTORS (GA)

The last time I was at this Board of REALTORS was in April of 2004.

Notice too that some of our local REALTOR organizations refer to themselves as “Boards.” Many changed to “Associations” over the last 30 years or so, but I often still refer to my local association as “the Board.”

Do you own your REALTOR Building, or is your Association leasing?

Education & Training Sales and Selling

Real Estate Professionals – Estimating Expenses

Oct 15,2018 / By Saul Klein / No Comment

Awhile back, Kathleen Allardyce, a member of our RealTalk Community asked:

“I’m wondering if anyone has a formula they use for estimating expenses or overhead to calculate:

Gross Annual Commissions – Expenses = Net Annual Commission. Is there a percent of commissions you can use for estimating?

A dollar figure per side? Can you use an estimating figure, or do you need to use hard dollars for desk fees, etc, then add a dollar figure for selling a listing and working with a buyer?”

Ardell DellaLoggia, a successful real estate veteran from the Northwest responded:

“I use an estimate based on my own reality. I take all of last year’s “Buyer Agent” fees actually received, deducting expenses directly related to that sale. An example would be if you paid for a home warranty or gave them a closing gift. Add up the total “net” commission and divide by the number of

Buyer Agent Transactions. Do the same on the listing side deducting that house’s specific expenses. Example would be sign up/sign down fees, advertising costs, not the lockox as that is an overhead/inventory item.

Only deduct the specific cost of advertising this house, not personal promotion advertising or other houses grouped into the ad. Take the total net commission and divide by the number of listings.

I do my plan based on half of my transactions/sides being Buyer Agent and the other half being Listings Sold. YMMV I round down the final number to account for buyers who don’t buy and listings that don’t sell. If my buyer agent $ is $4,450 I count that as $4,000 for planning. If the listing side is $3,450, I count that as $3,000 for planning.

Then I take the total number of sides from last year and up it to wherever I want it to be next year. Say that is 40 total transactions. 20 X $3,000 plus 20 X $4,000 equals my annual goal.

Then I do the plan, strategy, action list to meet the goals, etc into two separate plans. One, for achieving the listing goals; and then a second for achieving the buyer agent goals. They overlap a bit where I count on meeting buyers from my listings.

General overhead like buying enough lockboxes to keep a stocked inventory, I do not count at all when doing my business plan as eventually that becomes a constant. If you are a newer agent, these things are one time “start up”

costs.

I have taken some classes lately on planning, but the “new ideas” didn’t fit my business model. This one still works for me.”

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This might be helpful to new agents…anything you can add?

Oct 14,2018 / By Saul Klein / No Comment

Since the average term of homeownership can be somewhere between 5 to 8 years, realize that everyday is a marketing day and the easiest people to reach (and those most inclined to listen to your message) are those you already know.

Go through your personal address book. Call, mail, or e-mail everyone in your personal address book to let them know that you are now in the real estate business and that you would love to hear their advice and of course, if they know anyone who is interested in buying or selling, that you would appreciate if they mention your name. Don’t be shy about this. Don’t feel like you can’t “impose” on your friends. If your friends won’t help you, who will? Ask if it is ok for you to give them an update on your progress after your first year.

Learn the art and science of sales. There have been many good books written on the subject.

Understand persuasion and how it fits into your business.

Think of yourself as a “helper” (no one wants to be “sold” something). After all, you are helping people with what is usually their most valuable asset, their home.

To be effective in sales, you need the following:

Product Knowledge

Sales and Communication Skills

Access to Potential Clients

Integrity

Perseverance and Commitment

And let’s not forget….

Enough money (capital) to get you through start up and the lean times.

Pay attention to the future…as someone once told me…”that is where you will spend the rest of your life.”

And keep the flyer box full 🙂