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Dress for Success: Style Tips for Professional Real Estate Agents

The real estate industry is built on strong first impressions and appearances and for good reasons. With the average home in America priced at $188,900, there are almost 200,000 reasons for people to be picky when it comes to hiring real estate agents.

So how should real estate agents come across to potential clients? What is the first impression a potential client has of you? What do you look like? Are you simply wearing a T-shirt and jeans? Hopefully not.

For real estate agents just entering the industry, it’s tough to figure out how formal you need to be. Does your wardrobe need a complete overhaul? So here are some tips for dressing for success in the fast-paced world of real estate.

Tips for Real Estate Agents

Curb Appeal

This is a concept that agents will try and drill into the heads of their clients when they take a listing. First impressions are vital. This sentiment translates directly from looking at homes to being an agent.

Male agents will want to sport a crisp haircut and freshly pressed shirt and pants. Women will want to have skirt or pantsuit, conservative dress with a jacket and close-toed pumps. This is the prototypical professional image that most people expect from a real estate agent.

Pro-Tip: One what to bolster your curb appeal is to use the latest tech trends. Using real estate lead generation software on a tablet or other device will help you look like you’re “in the now.”

Context is Key

You don’t always need to be in your Sunday best to make a good sale. Sometimes, the regional context in which you live will overpower the need to be professional. For example, if you’re showing off condos at a ski-resort or bungalows in a beach town, business casual is more common. If you are trying to sell vacation homes, you want to appear relaxed, yet professional.

Also, if you live in a rural area selling ranch properties, you’re not going to want to be walking around cattle grazing areas dodging cow-pies in your Manolos. In this context, wearing jeans and boots is just fine and even preferable.

Don’t Stop at the Clothes

You can be decked out in all Armani. However, if you show up in a beater car, you probably will lose some of the curb appeal you need to form a good first impression. There are a couple schools of thought with regards to what kind of car a real estate agent should have:

  • A fancy car will give the impression of wealth and success.
  • The only thing tat matters is that whatever you drive is clean and reliable.

The first school of thought assumes that buyers and sellers will only want to hire some uber-successful real estate personalities. The second assumes that what you drive ultimately doesn’t matter. Which is the right one?

When comparing these two philosophies, it’s important to once again consider context. If you are selling a home in Beverly Hills, you’ll want something a little more flashy that shows off your successes. If you’re selling something in the suburbs, you will most likely be fine with something reasonable and affordable.

The truth is that you need to be self-aware of your circumstances. Know the region and portion of the market you are trying to enter. With a little bit of awareness, you’ll be well on the path to dressing your way to success.

Questions for Discussion: What other advice would you give a real estate agent wanting to make a good impression on a potential client?  

5 Tips for Negotiating Residential Rental Disputes

Nobody envisions a major conflict when they sign a lease, whether they’re the landlord or the tenant. The relationship always starts out with high hopes and positive feelings. However, it can quickly turn sour depending on how both parties act and communicate over the course of the living arrangement. You could find yourself in the middle of many residential rental disputes.

It’s in the landlords’ best interest to remain responsive to tenant complaints. It’s also in the renters’ best interest to obey the terms of the contract and notify ownership of any issues in a reasonable manner. Proper communication and understanding of situations is the best path to landlord-tenant harmony.

However, most likely disputes will arise. What are some courses of action landlords can take to negotiate residential rental disagreements and get back on track with business? Here are 5 suggestions that landlord and tenant can use to handle residential rental disputes.

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5 Can’t Miss Things to Do Before Selling Your Home

Are you thinking of selling your home anytime soon? Well, now is a great time to do it. Homeowners sold over 5.25 million homes in 2015. This increased to 5.3 million in 2016. Although the rate of sale declined in August 2016, the prices of houses were still up from August 2015. With some help, you can take advantage of the recovering real estate market and sell your home at a great price.

Selling your home can be both stressful and exciting. It’s exciting because it means change, but that’s alsselling your homeo why it’s stressful: it means change. Like most people, you’ve probably formed an emotional attachment to your home or neighborhood. Leaving it may feel like a betrayal. There is no need to think that way – it’s not.

The following tips will help you make sure that you’ve covered all your bases before you sell your home and will help you feel good doing it.

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4 Ways to Fund That Extra Mortgage Payment

For most people making one monthly mortgage payment is challenging enough. Why in the world would you want to make an additional one? Seems like that extra mortgage payment would be pushing the monthly budget a bit too far.

extra mortgage paymentWell, if you can see the bigger picture, the money you put towards an extra mortgage payment now can have significant impact on your long-term financial health. The more you pay and the earlier you pay it will reduce the amount of interest you owe over the life of the loan. You could be looking at tens of thousands of dollars saved in the long run.

If you don’t believe me, run your own numbers on any online mortgage calculator. You’ll be amazed on how much you can save.

Making an extra mortgage payment each month (or even a partial payment) takes a strategy. More importantly, it takes extra money. That’s where the real problem lies. When you look at your monthly budget you may be left scratching your head wondering where that extra money is going to come from.

Back when my wife and I decided to pay off our mortgage early, we faced the same problem. Here are the ways we came up with to free up some money to make that extra mortgage payment.

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The Best Home Renovation Projects That Hold Their Value

home renovation projectsIt’s the depths of winter but spring will be here before you know it. With that your thoughts might be turning to that home renovation project you’ve been waiting for. Now’s the time to get the final plans and cost in place so when the weather turns nice you can hit the ground running.

A home renovation isn’t simply painting a room or putting down new carpet. Those things are nice to do and are needed from time to time. When I say home renovation I’m referring to big projects…ones for which you might want to call in a contractor. For the most part these are projects that are going to cost thousands of dollars, maybe even reach into 6 figures.

With that much money at stake it’s important to do your research ahead of time. One of the big issues is how much return you can expect to receive on your home renovation investment. You don’t want to dump $20,000 into a project only to see it’s value dwindle to nothing.

We’ve been thinking recently about finishing our basement. We could add several additional rooms of living space there along with perhaps a bathroom. We know it would add value to our home life (giving us more personal space) and add value to the home itself. But how much money to put into it is the real question. What could we expect to get back in value if we ever sell our home?

With that in mind, check out this infographic from Contractor Quotes. It shows the typical cost of each major home renovation and what you can expect to recoup in cost when you sell your home.

Home Renovation Projects That Increase a Home’s Value

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How to Avoid a Foreclosure When You Are Struggling Financially

If home ownership is the American dream then a foreclosure is a homeowner’s worst nightmare. Thousands of people face this situation every day because they are struggling financially and have failed to pay the mortgage. It can definitely lead to some sleepless nights worrying over whether or not the bank will come take your home.

avoid foreclosureAvoiding foreclosure is extremely important for several reasons. For starters, it damages your credit score. You may see a drop of 200 points or more even if you had perfect credit beforehand. In addition, the information stays on your credit report for seven years. This makes it very difficult to secure a new mortgage loan or open other lines of credit in the future. It’s a stain on your personal financial record that takes years to overcome.

How to Avoid a Foreclosure

In the end you may have no choice but to foreclose. However, don’t assume all hope is lost because you may be a month or two behind on the mortgage.

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How to Make a Home Inventory Checklist in Case of a Catastrophic Loss

Recent events surrounding the theft and eventual recovery of our family basketball goal have me thinking more about home security. One issue that presented itself during that incident was that I did not have proof (like a model number or receipt) or identifying marks on the goal that it belonged to me. If I had that proof the police could have pursued the matter more aggressively.

home inventory checklist in case of lossDuring the ordeal I had a conversation with a friend of mine who used to be a detective. He mentioned a case he investigated where a man had his entire music collection stolen. Fortunately for him, he had written down the title and artist of every CD in his collection. He gave that list to my friend who, believe it or not, was able to track down the collection. Of course, he was aided in his search by the fact that the not-so-intelligent thief sold the entire collection at once…to one pawn shop.

Wasn’t too hard to link those to events together.

My friend went on to say he has made a home inventory checklist of everything of value in his home. In case of a catastrophic loss such as a house fire, he will be able to present his home inventory checklist to the insurance company showing concrete evidence of what he did own. Of course that won’t help him recover the sentimental items he lost but it will give him a better chance of recouping the fair market value to replace all the consumer products he lost.

So, guess what the kids and I started doing over Christmas break?

How to Make a Home Inventory Checklist

We haven’t entirely completed our project but these are the steps we are taking to make our home inventory checklist:

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Simple and Fun Ways Landlords Can Treat Their Tenants Well

Dog staring at a sign that says Dogs WelcomeThe primary objective for owning rental real estate is to make money. Landlords can facilitate meeting this objective by running their property like a business and treating their tenants well. A happy tenant is one more likely to stick around for the long term.

There are many money related issues with being a landlord. The most expensive and time consuming period, other than the initial purchase and renovation, is the turnaround phase after a tenant leaves. Repairs, cleaning, advertising, interviews, and background checks all need to be accomplished before a new tenant can move in. The fewer number of times a landlord devotes to those tasks the better.

With that in mind, here are some things I’m doing to help my tenants enjoy their stay.

Response Times

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How Landlords Can Screen Out Potentially Bad Renters

bad rentersOwning and renting property is one of the best investment strategies for building long-term wealth. Besides the money needed to purchase the property, what holds most people back is the fear of dealing with bad renters. It’s not a misguided consideration either. Take it from someone who knows – bad renters can be awful.

With that being said, in my five years of owning rental property, I’ve only had one bad renter who forced me to take legal action and pursue an eviction. I attribute that success to the process whereby I select tenants for my properties. I live by the adage that the best place to catch potentially bad renters is before they sign on the dotted line.

How to Screen Out Bad Renters

What can a landlord do to screen out a potentially bad renters? Here are six things I’m doing that may seem obvious but are often not followed.

1. Handle your emotions on a vacant property

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5 Common Rental Real Estate Mistakes Landlords Will Make

rental real estate mistakesSo, you are ready to take the rental real estate plunge and become a landlord. Awesome! I hope that you have come to that decision by desire (you really want to do this) and not by necessity (you were forced into it because your house wouldn’t sell). One of those scenarios (hint: the first one) generally works out better than the other.

My wife and I have been renting properties for some time now and our landlord experience has been positive. I believe our success comes from a desire to run a quality business, as we never considered this to be a whimsical adventure. We spent over a year studying the idea to make sure rental real estate was right for us because we knew it has its darker side. I believe we set ourselves up for success as landlords by doing that because we went into it with our eyes wide open.

Rental Real Estate Mistakes Landlords Should Avoid

Even with all our preparation we made some mistakes with our rental real estate. Here are five big ones I want to help you avoid.

1. Paying too much for a property

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The Craziest Home Repair Ever

If you are about to purchase your first ever home, listen up. The moment the legal documents are signed and the keys are passed into your hands, expect there to be a home repair or two waiting for you when you come in the front door. It’s inevitable. Something will break and need fixing, especially if you have kids.

home repairCan I get an “Amen” current homeowners?

I think we all know home maintenance comes with the territory of home ownership. We generally anticipate and prepare for the appliance that dies, the toilet that leaks and the air conditioner that gives up the ghost in the middle of summer. But some a home repair can also happen because of a bizarre reasons we could never have anticipated. Know what I mean?

Well I think I’ve got dibs on the craziest event ever that caused a home repair. It wasn’t the baseball through the bay window or the overflowing, second-floor bathroom sink. No, I prefer to create damage with a bit of flair. It all happened when I was eight.

A Crazy Accident Leads to a Home Repair

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