Password to Achieving Your Goals

It can get very confusing having passwords for so many different things that it’s hard to remember them all off the top of your head. Then I remembered something that I did years ago when I was working hard to save money for a skiing trip to Whistler, Canada.

My bank at the time allowed their clients to change their account pin numbers into a word that made it easy to remember. My pin name became the word ‘Canada’. Which meant that everytime I deposited money into the account I felt that I was getting closer towards my goal & if I ever did a withdrawal I would always end up taking out the smallest amount possible. It worked a treat.

Achieving your goals is based on writing out your goal, keeping your mind on it & then working towards your goal. Most books you read suggest regular positive affirmations too.

To help you stay focussed on your goal why don’t you change your account passwords to reflect whatever it is that you want to achieve. It will then act as a daily reminder. It has really worked for me & I hope this simple tip helps you achieve your goals

Lack of detail bugs buyers

Years ago I saw a TV ad with little kids playing up in their tree house. Playing pretend parents with their dolls the little girl says to her brother. “You better go & pick up the kids” & the little boy says, “Yes just as soon as I knock off the rest of this drink”. He pretends to drink the rest of the beer out of an empty beer bottle.

The caption at the end was – “Everything you say & everything you do someone is watching you”.

Nowadays this is even more evident with marketing over the internet. With real estate marketing your attention to detail is extremely important.

Take a look at how one persons great impression of a real estate company can change just over a small item that was left in the photograph of a kitchen. Read this article

The author asks if he is being too petty, but it’s important to be aware that it had enough impact on him to write about it to his audience. The item included in the photo was a can of pest spray.

It may not be enough to turn a buyer off, but then again how would you ever know?

None of us get things exactly right all the time, but be aware the small things do count.

Cry for help – 1 million households – mortgage stress

mortgage stress

I don’t want this post to be doom & gloom, there’s enough of that out there at the moment. Instead I simply wanted to toss around a couple of ideas.

After reading this article mortgage stress may affect 1 million households it looks like neither the Reserve Bank, the Lending institutions nor the Australian government seem to have any fresh ideas that may stop the inevitable.

Here’s a couple of thoughts that might be worth considering.

The biggest problem seems to be that the lending criteria changed from the days when only 30% of your gross income was allowed to be allocated towards mortgage repayments. Until we get back to those sorts of levels there will be no disposable income to help run the other parts of our economy.

Mortgage stress is a huge thing, but of even greater concern is that fact that in many cases over 50% of gross income is going to the mortgage payments. Take out the income tax & every day household running costs & there is nothing left.

Unfortunately, in most cases the bills keep mounting & the only way to pay those bills is via a credit card. Many people are maxed out on their credit card & to survive they have no alternative but to get another credit card & so on.

Unfortunately, all the concepts rely on the banks & the government in some way or another but at least this first idea is something you may consider straight away.

1. Borders or Lodgers – Now that there are less investors buying & even more people selling up & opting to rent the rental crisis is only going to get worse. Some people are taking in borders or lodgers. This may help with the repayments, but be very careful with your selection process. Also, its important to be aware that the government may interpret that you are receiving an income from that part of your home & it may come under scrutiny which could have capital gains tax implications. It could be deemed that a portion of the home may become subject to GST just like it would if you ran a business out of a part of your home. Plus there could be income tax implications. Please do your homework & seek out some professional advice on this before you jump straight in.

I think the government should relax these CGT laws under these circumstances, but I doubt that they will.

2. Effective first home buyer & refinance products:- In a previous article I suggested that the banks should offer longer term loans for Gen Y. Why don’t the banks extend the term on their loans but have a maximum of say 35% o gross income allocated to mortgage payments. By including the 35% maximum criteria the chances of a huge increase in property prices should be diffused. The prospect of Gen Y having to borrow even more money to enter the market is the last thing I would want to see.

Most people may be horrified to know that over in Japan they have 100 year home loans. However, in reality having a longer term doesn’t mean that you necessarily have to take that long to pay off the loan. A large percentage of 25 – 30 year mortgages are paid off within 10 – 15 years & if you end up having some disposable income you can always put it towards paying off the loan.

3. If it’s possible maybe consider renting your house out, rather than selling it & moving back in with the folks for a little while. The government currently has a policy that you can rent your house out for 6 years & not be subject to capital gains tax, but at the moment this only seems to be available to people who have had interstate or overseas job transfers, attending to sick relative or have gone on an extended holiday. Here’s the information on the Australian Taxation Office site. ATO link

If the government could open up this criteria so that their ‘Working Families” could take up this option for a year or two, it may be just the breather they need to be able to help get back on their feet.

Bad debts, bankruptcy, mortgage stress, banks with outstanding debts, restrictive lending criteria & mortgage insurance companies feeling the pinch – none of this is going to be any good for any of us & lets face it most of these people having to sell up will have recieved free stamp duty & the first home buyers grant to help get them into their home. If they sell up, how are they ever going to be able to save for the deposit & the stamp duty that they will need to enter the real estate market a second time around ?

I can see a lot of hope for our economy, if we can just get back to having some disposable income again so we can all get on & live a little rather than having 1 million households giving the majority of their income to the banks via mortgages & credit card interest.

The mechanics of real estate

There is an old saying that you should never borrow money on something that will go down in value.

This is where most people get themselves into trouble. They purchase a new item on credit & if they ever want to cash it in to pay off the debt they still have a loan remaining on thin air.

Rent is dead money & so is paying interest to banks, whether it be for a property, car or a plasma tv. The difference with housing is that over time the land value component increases, wages increase & rents increase. So long as you don’t go refinancing to buy cars, boats, etc on your house, the repayments for the home eventually become less than what the equivalent rental payment would be. When this happens you generally have a lot more disposable money to pay chunks off the mortgage or do other stuff.

The hard part is when the market gets over heated as it recently has. A lot of people are losing thousands of dollars in hard earned savings. Whilst it is devistating for many – it’s not right to blame real estate as a product. It’s the excessive financing that has caused the majority of the problem.

The basic fundamentals of real estate are set in stone & provides a sound investment for many home buyers. Unfortunately a lot of people jump into the real estate market when it’s going up & in any market whether it be real estate or shares when you buy at the top of any cycle there is only one way that it can go.

A few years ago real estate agents had to do very little to sell a property, now when the market is down and there are more sellers than buyers, it’s going to take a lot more effort to hold a sale together. Add to that all the information that is now readily available to buyers & sellers over the internet – you’re going to see some radical changes within the whole real estate industry.

Agents need to understand Gen Y’s needs a lot more & the Gen Y’s need to understand the mechanics of real estate & the consequences of borrowing too much money.

Understanding Gen Y’s Real Estate Needs

Here’s an interesting article from USA Today regarding the changes in real estate marketing towards Gen Y’s.

The comments on the article are even more interesting as it shows a real disconnect between the real estate industry, lenders & the Gen Y’s. Overall the different points of view are very interesting.

Here’s the link

YOU are your Point Of Difference

The current spectrum of online marketing products seems to be funnelling all the agents down a similar path. It appears that it is going to get harder & harder to create a real point of difference.

The main way that you will be able to stay ahead is through clever use of innovations and even though others will follow your lead you can at least be further along the path than the next agent. You want to be seen as the innovator not the immitator.

Agents worldwide seem to be grabbing onto the smallest detail within their businesses and are passionately selling their point of difference based on that alone. Things like we create the best brochures or we do longer or more frequent open homes, etc simply won’t be enough to grab the seller’s attention compared to some of the web 2.0 marketing strategies that we are currently developing.

Ultimately the consumer is going to become even more confused by all the similarities within agent’s marketing that they won’t really care who they select to interview for the market appraisal & may end up choosing their agent based on commission rates.

At the end of the day the only real point of difference that you have is YOU. You have to market yourself in such a way that you can connect with people. You have to become a presenter & embrace the Web 2.0 strategies, via video & podcasting because unfortunately as an agent people assume things about you without even meeting you – video helps more people to get to know you.

Within these videos you have to provide your potential clients with social proof that you are an excellent negotiator & you should provide supporting evidence eg. testimonials (video or audio preferably) and wherever possible you should use piggy backing. I’ll explain piggy backing in my next post.

Understand that it’s going to be a bit tricky to wear the sellers agent hat & the buyers agent hat within the one video. A buyer may be put off by putting too much seller based slant into the video & vice versa.

Have a planned approach to these videos. Remember that the video could end up anywhere on the web & if it’s too outrageous the majority of people won’t connect with you.

Ultimately, it’s about getting people to meet you & getting them to like & trust you. Make sure you include some information realting to the area in which you work because both sellers & buyers would be more interested in watching your video if you provide some insights about your area rather than just making it all about you.  A professional video company can help you with this.

Could social networking effect tenancy applications?

I heard something the other day that really surprised me. Apparently, someone didn’t get accepted for a job application after the company researched the person via Facebook or MySpace. It’s understood that they didn’t like the images they saw & felt that they were unsuitable for the job.

The same could apply for any other aplications made. The main one relating to the real estate industry would be tenant applications. Currently agents can do credit checks & financial checks, but I wonder if this will become the new way to check out an applicant? I hope not.

Using these social network sites for processing tenancy applications would fuel a massive debate or backlash from Gen Y.

Mortgage products need to appeal to Gen Y’s

Over the past 2 years there has been an overall percentage increase of almost 50% (from 5.9% – 8.5%) in the standard variable interest rates in Australia . This has put a credit squeeze on overcommitted homebuyers and investors. The flow through effect has seen an increase in demand for rental property which creates huge pressure on housing availability in rental markets. There were news reports today of record 0.9% vacancy rates in NSW.

The state government are looking at ways to encourage investors back into the market. Hopefully, this may open up some new opportunities for first time Gen Y investors.

As new medical advancements develop, our life expectancy will naturally increase & therefore I can’t understand why the banks haven’t considered increasing the maximum term for their home loans, especially for Gen Y’s.

What do you think?

The future of the real estate industry is in the hands of Generation Y.

 

I’ve been really looking forward to today, but I’m even more excited about tomorrow.

My first post on a blog that is ultimately here to help all of us understand a lot more about where the real estate industry is heading with technology. I am really excited to see what ideas develop along the way. I’m especially looking forward to being able to contribute some personal insights for the industry, but I’m even more excited about some of the contributors that will be joining in along the way.

Whether you are a Baby Boomer, from Generation X or Generation Y this blog will always provide information to help you.

After 20 years in real estate I’ve seen a lot of changes take place, but these changes are nothing like the massive real estate 2.0 changes that have either already been developed or are just over the horizon.

I really want this blog to help fill the gap for some of the agents that currently struggle with technology & ultimately assist them to understand what today’s online real estate customer wants & expects.

If you feel you can help please feel most welcome to comment or contribute your thoughts or insights.