Insider Secret: The market is the least important factor you should consider when deciding whether and when to buy a home.

Why: Everyone knows affordability is at an all-time high.  Home prices are low, and so are interest rates. But trying to time the market is a fool’s errand; many who get caught up in that game of trying to make sure they buy at the absolute bottom will end up losing out on very, very favorable conditions.

Beyond that, the most important considerations when deciding whether and when you should buy a home are personal, not market driven. In today’s market, it only makes sense to buy a place if it’s going to be sustainable and work for you for at least the next 4-5 years [Such as in a city like Austin where the real estate market has been fairly recession-proof] or 7-10 years [if the housing/foreclosure crisis has hit your area pretty hard].

Against this “smart holding period” backdrop, smart buyers decide to buy when it makes sense for:

• their life plans (i.e., they are comfortable making the commitment to live in the same town, and the commitment to )
• their family plans (i.e., whether they plan to get married, have children or empty their nest in the time they plan to own the home – and the implications of these plans on their space needs and location priorities)
• their career plans (including, but not limited to: whether they have job or income security, whether they feel they will be working in the same area for the foreseeable future, and whether they want to work less or start their own business in the months or years to come)
• their financial plans (including foreseeable changes in income and expenses, e.g., kids going to college or making partner at the firm).

Modified and Syndicated by Ryan Saul, article referenced by Tara-Nicholle Nelson

Stay organized while searching for your perfect home- This video will assist you in utilizing the bins located in the MLS System’s Client Gateway.

Client:  Could you schedule 123 FSBO BLVD for us to see tomorrow, I found it on Zillow.com, I really like it’s location, and I did a drive by yesterday.

Me- Buyers Agent: Definitely, you’ve got it!  As agreed in our ‘Buyers Representation Agreement’, you find the FSBO I’ll get us in.  Remember, if the Seller is unwilling to pay my brokerage fees that we have agreed upon, then you will pay them at closing.

Client: Yes, of course I remember what we signed in the contract.  I’ll be getting such a great deal on this FSBO that paying you your commission will be worth it to me!  (End Call)

First things first, I always look up the property on the MLS, even if my clients finds it on another online resource. If it is not listed for sale I will then search the website it was found on.  In this case it was listed on Zillow,com as a “Make Me Move” status- I’ve dealt with a handful of these, about 95% of the time I end up leaving a message and my call is never returned.   This time the phone was answered by the owner.

Me- Buyers Agent:  Hello, my name is Ryan Saul, I’m a Realtor® with Avalar Austin Real Estate and I have a buyer that would like to view your home.  Are you the owner and if so is your home still available for sale? (You need to ask this because most of the time it is not for sale anymore).

FSBO Seller: Hi, Uhh, yeah I am, I’m, I’m the owner. [Pause as Days of Our Lives is turned down] [Papers being rustled around] I put my house on this site as a “Make Me Move” option though so you know….. dude, sorry I never got around to putting any photos online.  But ahhh, yep it’s ahhh, $435,000.

Me- Buyers Agent: No, the website reads $425,000.  Has the price changed?

FSBO Seller:  Ummm, no.  Yeah it’s $425,000.

Me- Buyers Agent: Is there anyway we could schedule a time to come by today or at some point this week to view your property?

FSBO Seller:  Ahhhh, you know we just put it out there to see and…it’s not really clean…and you know I’d have to talk with you more about the buyer and what they’d want to pay…I mean, is your buyer serious?

Me- Buyers Agent:  Mr. Seller, I can assure you that my buyer client is serious, pre-approved, and looking in your neighborhood to purchase a home in the next month.  Is your home available?

FSBO Seller:  Well…..I mean it is, but…you know we wouldn’t want to move for a while, they would have to understand that, and it would have to be a good price, you know to “Make Me Move”!

Me- Buyers Agent:  So your telling me your home is unavailable to show this week, that you are not prepared to move anytime soon, and that we need to talk more about how seriously my buyer wants to purchase your home before they have even been inside??  Ok, thank you for your time. (End Call)

This is really is a tough one because you want to provide your clients with the best possible service and assist them in purchasing any home they choose.  I mean technically every home is for sale!!  If my client falls in love with a certain house and it is not for sale you better believe I’m going to knock on that door to see if the owner is willing to sell!  But for a seller to place their home on a real estate website, then beat around the bush about wanting to show it to a buyers, and tell me their not really wanting to move soon??

Rule #1 of Real Estate Club: Don’t list your home unless you want to sell your house!
Rule #2 of Real Estate Club: Don’t list your home unless you want to sell your house!
Rule #3 of Real Estate Club: The consumer must see the product before they will offer to buy it!

Living Room Insulation: Many older homes have insufficient or failed insulation in walls or ceilings. Adding insulation is one of the easiest and most cost-effective options for improving the efficiency of a home.

Because insulation behind walls cannot be visually assessed, you may need an energy auditor to determine whether you have enough insulation and whether it was installed correctly. Energy auditors use tools such as thermographic cameras to reveal cold and hot spots on walls, ceilings, and floors.

Look to ENERGY STAR^®‘s Do-it-Yourself Guide for detailed advice on air sealing and insulating your home.

Ceiling Fans: Ceiling fans provide a breeze that can make a room feel about 5°F cooler.

Ceiling fans only help with cooling or heating if someone is in the room. So walk around the house to see which ceiling fans are on. If no one is in the room, turn fans off; they’re wasting energy!

Do you use your ceiling fan in winter? On the low setting, a fan can help push warm air down to warm a room. In summer, a ceiling fan can be reversed to pull cool air up and cool a room.

If you wish to install a ceiling fan, look for an ENERGY STAR qualified fan/light kit with compact fluorescent light bulbs or other energy-efficient lighting. These fans run quieter and use less energy than non-qualified models.

Use ENERGY STAR’s ceiling fan savings calculator to estimate the costs of using a conventional unit versus an ENERGY STAR qualified model.

Windows: How old are your windows? Are they single pane? Do they leak? An energy auditor can provide technical advice on caulking to improve your windows’ performance, and advise you on the payback period for replacement windows and storms.

During the summer, the air conditioner must work harder to cool hot rooms with single-pane or leaky windows. In winter, cold air from inefficient windows can lead to drafty, uncomfortable rooms. But contrary to popular belief, other home improvements usually have a much larger impact on energy efficiency (and faster payback) than new windows. These include improved insulation, air sealing, updated HVAC equipment, and newer ENERGY STAR^® qualified appliances.

• To counteract window inefficiency in the short term, caulk any leaks and use curtains and shades to block drafts, and the summer sun.
• If your windows are leaky, consider replacing them with ENERGY STAR qualified windows or installing storms.

From the U.S. Department of EnergyEnergy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

My recommendations to help Home Buyers, save time and stay organized, while shopping for their home online. Using ‘Map Search’ to locate areas of interest and using your Realtors® resources to pin point properties.
Ryan Saul, Realtor®

Convincing Myself (and my Wife) that I ‘Needed’ an iPad
Previously I had researched buying a Kindle or the Sony book reader to have paperless property listings for showings with buyers.  But when Apple announced the release of the Apple iPad, being that I’m a huge Apple products fan I told my wife that I would really like one.  She said, “Why do you want to spend the money on that, you probably don’t really NEED one”.  She went on by referencing her days as a real estate agent in Maui, Hawaii.  Most of which was spent making gobs of money selling multimillion dollar homes in a frantic buyers market before the bubble burst, but that is another story all together.
Over the course of three or so weeks I tried to think of ways I would utilize such a tool for my Real Estate business.  I visited an Apple store to demo it a couple of times in the attempt to make my case stronger.  Two major uses were realized and both were situations where I would be utilizing the iPad when working with buyer clients.

Working Paperlessly- Carrying property info sheets on the iPad during showings (it would be greener and mainly more convenient)
Mobile MLS- Using the larger screen to help my clients look at my boards Mobile MLS application on the fly.

Technically the iPad offers a lot more possibilities and is infinitely more versatile than a digital book reader.  My wife and I struck a deal, I bought one for her and one for myself…

Use 1: Going Paperless
My usual stack of MLS property sheets would essentially be in digital format, I would be paperless.  Instead of pressing the print button to have copies of property info from the MLS, I now create PDF documents.  My thought was that this may allow for better organization in the field and at home.  The process to get to this level was a bit of trial and error though.  I was hoping for an simple and easy filing system that could be created and was accessible from the iPad by just plugging it into your computer (much like a flash drive). Unfortunately, that doesn’t exist straight out of the box, although one of my acquaintances works for Apple and claims it’s been kicked around.  My next thought was using the Apple service I subscribe to called MobileMe, it is great for syncing and updating your contacts and the iCal calender program, and also gives you online disk space for storing files on their server.  I downloaded the MobileMe iDisk App uploaded PDF files to it only to realize they were very pixilated and hardly readable once downloaded on the iPad.

Solution:
Create PDF files and email them to myself and my client- They are very readable, quick and easy to scroll through!

Pros:
Less to carry

Easy to read
Saves paper
Client has a copy

Cons:
If you want to add properties you have to have your computer to manipulate the PDF document. Can’t take notes- about showing times and other info prior and during showings

Use 2: Mobile MLS

Mostly I use this program on my iPhone on my own driving through my niche areas

without buyer clients.  I’ll pull up the property that I’mcurious about on the Mobile MLS application to see it’s specs and showing instructions.  It is very convenient to have this basic information in the field, including the agent’s and owner’s phone number so that I can line up a showing.

It’s use on the iPad mainly involves showing properties with buyers.  This situation happens all the time- we pass a property that was not on our list of properties for the afternoon, my client asks “what’s the deal with that home?”.  If I know the property I usually answer , “Well…it’s the home’s size, price, or condition or we’d be looking at it”.  If they don’t remember I’ll pull it up on the iPad, that usually refreshes their memory so that we can continue our tour without them wondering about the mysterious house we just passed.  On the other hand if I don’t know the property or it is newly listed, I say, “I don’t know let’s look it up on the Mobile MLS”.  This is definitely a better answer than, “I don’t know, I’ll look it up later on the MLS at my office”.  Sometimes the home actually fits the criteria of the buyer’s needs, but may have been initially looked over for a variety of reasons.  If your client wants to see it, try to fit in in to you schedule, you never know how long it will be before you can get them in the car again.  Plus seeing more inventory, even on the fly like this, serves your client better and can help them understand pricing in the market area.

Use 3: Google Maps- Bigger is Better!
This may be the best feature that I never expected from the iPad.  I frequently used the Google Maps program on my iPhone and believe it to be one of the best GPS mapping tools available (and it’s on all iPhone & iPads for free).
Soon after I bought my iPad I was walking a lot with a client, this particular property did not have a fence or boundary markers, it was some what large, and in a wooded area of the Texas hill country.  My client asked if we were still on the property, I accessed the Google Maps program that showed the actual property lines.  We were able to walk the entire property knowing that all of the land we had traversed was included in the sale.  And we left the location knowing that the cool wet-weather rock waterfall was unquestionably on the property.
Yes, this can be done on the iPhone but the larger screen creates more detailed visibility and zoom.  This is another instance were I saved my client and I time, and was looked at as more of a professional because my tools added information on the spot.  Never again do I have to say, “Let me ask the listing agent for a copy of the survey and I’ll email that to you tomorrow”.

Use 4:  Email, Web, & Social Networking
I’ve found using social networks, mainly Facebook, really does help promote business and networking with business colleagues.  Talk about reaching out and reminding people that your an agent, social networking offers great platforms to harness people’s attention into bite size pieces (I’m not much of a email campaign guy).  Regular daily emailing is a definite necessity and is an obvious one so I won’t go into to much detail other than the fact that it is convenient to use a full sized keyboard.  The iPad allows you to utilize most web sites in their full versions, not just a striped down app like on the iPhone.  So all the same tasks I can do on my home computer I can do on by iPad!

Use 5: ZipForms & Docusign
Currently we’re not in a frantic buyers market where using the iPad to complete a contract from beginning to end needs to be done all electronically.  But this could be done all on site if the buyer was worried about losing the house to another person.  You better believe if a client wants to submit an offer on the road I can do it using Zipforms and the electronic signature program Docusign!

I do all my transactions using these two online tools on my laptop computer- YES, ALL OF THEM.

The Future
You shouldn’t force things into your business whether it’s in online marketing, social networking, or in the field.  If you are only trying a new tool because someone told you just ‘have to‘ your work productivity will suffer and/or you may end up looking poor in front of a client.
Are my clients impressed?  They definitely are, and they love having access to additional information on the fly.  Does it help me out? For sure it does in a lot ways.
The biggest down fall is working paperlessly with property listings information. It is just not quite as seamlessly as I would like it to be yet.  MLS software essentially needs to be modified slightly, it was not programed with the mid-sized mobile computing devices in mind. This would make the step of creating a PDF file obsolete and allow me to organize and access my clients chosen homes wirelessly.
Business & technology is evolving at an alarming rate, and I compare it to surfing in the ocean-  If your not looking outside a big set may come.  Not only are you going to miss the great waves…you might get pushed out of the way up on the rocks!  Essentially, ‘Old School’ methods are going to last only a little while longer before clients are going to demand an agent that is slightly more technology inept, whom has better technology tools.  I sat next to a woman in the Technology portion one of Mark Porter’s Real Estate courses last year, she hadn’t been an agent since the late 80’s, she was confused and freaking out.  I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she threw in the towel after the class was over!  Soon if learning new technologies feels forced, you may be forced to find a new career.
In reality, I don’t really need an Apple iPad- but it is a tool that if used correctly can provide information & save a lot of time.  I’m someone that loves technology and finding ways to apply new tools it to my Real Estate business- I’m a constantly evolving Technology Neo-Realtor®

Ryan Saul, Realtor®, GRI, ABR, GREEN

Avalar Austin Real Estate

512.284.2204

www.RyanSaulREALTOR.com