I'm glad we've had an early Spring and nice weather, since I feel I am still driving around with customers who are in the waiting mode despite their saying they are ready to buy a home. Last year we saw this trend happening and it still seems to be continuing despite my showing some of clients the final sales prices on homes they liked last year but were sure would go down in price.

What do you say when a client says they want to continue looking or they want to wait as the prices are going down!!  I seem to be missing the right response as I'm still doing wheel estate not real estate with some clients.

On Friday March 23 Coldwell Banker announced its entrance into the Second Life community as the first real life real estate company to open a virtual office.  Here is the Coldwell Banker announcement .

What is Second Life you ask? It is a virtual world where you can buy and sell real estate among other things that would exist in a real world community. Many major corporations are joining the community such as Cisco and Microsoft and presently there are over 5 million memebers. You can sign up for a free basic membership or upgrade for $9.95 month which will allow a member to buy and sell property. Visit Wikipedia - Second Life for a definition

I was introduced into the Second Life world by my teenagers who had joined Teen Second Life begun in 2005 for ages 14-17 years. They can also have a limited free membership or upgrade so they too can buy land, operate a business, organize events etc. There is a parents section where you can register your email and be alerted to any violation of the account by your teenager as well as track their activity. Wikipedia has even has even included Ten Second Life in its online encyclopedia.

We as realtors need to be aware of and even particpate in the new virtual world as these are our current and future generation X and Y customers. They will expect us to be somewhat tech savvy and be able to speak their language. 

As many have discussed before Blogging is another technology tool to help get oneself noticed and branded.  As a nove to Blogging (as many of us are) I have one Point 2 Blog "All Things Mount Kisco and Northern Westchester County" and I use it for everything--listings, Open Houses, Events in the area, and just general real estate issues such as my daily Real Estate Term blog post.  As it happens my Blog posts often come up higher in Google than my wbsite but I don't know if it's because of the number of Blog posts or if its the verbiage used in a particular post.

It appears that some agents have multiple Blogs broken down for different categories so perhaps some of you more technical and experienced Bloggers could shed some light for those of us less enlightened ... should we have more than 1 Blog? Do you have Blogs in locations other than Point 2 like Active Rain & if so do you use each Blog for a different purpose or do you put the same information on each Blog?

I've yet to be able t figure out even adding pictures or other material to my Blog nor have I been able to figure out changing fonts, colors but that's another lesson for another day.

www.margotfriedlander.net

Winter weather... a Realtors nightmare. Here in the northeast Mid-Atlantic region we're facing tonight into tomorrow our first major snow storm this year.  With the bad weather across the country so far this year, I ask for your thoughts on calling your clients and canceling the appointment today if bad weather is expected tomorrow or should you just wait until tomorrow to cancel.

Several years ago I had clients coming up by train to Westchester County NY by train from New York City.on a Saturday morning and we had much advance notice of a tropical storm hitting that day, the remnants of a hurricane.  I was a new agent and naive to believe that the clients would be smart enough to want to cancel on their own.  I was wrong.  I met them at the train, maneuvered through around road blocks due to downed trees & wires  or roads that had become rivers as streams overflowed and we actually saw the 4 homes we had planned to but it took much longer. than anticipated.  The couple ended up buying in another area with another agent.

I learned a valuable lesson though.  I am the local area expert. I know what the conditions can be like during storms, which roads become impassable for perhaps 1-2 days, which homes have steep driveways & would be treacherous during a storm and therefore you're not doing the buyers any service as they may be missing out on a home that would be perfect for them and you can't spend the time showing the buyers the area and its amenities.

NOW, I make the call and cancel the appointment.  I find my clients appreciate it and trust that I do know the area better and agree that safety is first and foremost.  Also, by doing it the day before it relieves the sellers who feared they would have to leave during the showing and some even were over accommodating to my clients when rescheduling a new appointment.

I know many agents who wait and see what the weather brings and make the call to their clients the next morning--the day of the appointment.  From my experience, canceling the appointments the day before doesn't impact my serious buyers who will always reschedule and appreciate my honesty about how conditions can become and my concern for everyones safety, including my own.  They also have agreed that they can just plan to sleep in the next morning and watch the snow fall. 

What has been your experience?  How do you handle it with your clients?

Margot Friedlander

www.margotfriedlander.net

Though we all have websites and all the real estate articles nowadays claim this is the way to market properties in the future, we have to recognize that our seller clients come from different generations and their expectations of the marketing of their homes will depend on that generation.

Generation X & Y are computer savvy, welcome as much internet exposure as possible, are comfortable with your laptop power point listing presentations and  understand the statistics that buyers now start their home searches on the internet before even contacting an agent.  They get their news from the interent and don't bother with the Sunday paper for the classifieds or real estate sections. This generation knows about Craigs List, You Tube & may even have their own page on MySpace.com

Baby Boomers were born 1946-1964 so even within this generation you have a mix of those with computer knowledge and skill level BUT they do subscribe to the Sunday paper. They understand that internet marketing is the future but they also ask what paper their home will be marketed in and expect postcard mailings in the local geographic area. This generation didn't grow up with the computer, the internet, and some don't even own cell phones,  Many are unfamiliar with the different search engines & may not appreciate that your website is on page 1 of Google or Yahoo.

Those born 1930-1945 are far less familiar with the computer and most may not have own one except to send emails to their children and grandchildren. They will politely listen when you explain internet marketing but they only want to know what newspapers or other publications where their home will be listed. For this generation you bring your listing book rather than your laptop to do your listing presentation and words like Google & Yahoo are a foreign language. This generation like Baby Boomers don't have the high tech toys that Generation X & Y might have, they still use VCRs since they have extensive VHS libray at home and the thought of changing the time on the VCR is intimidating. They expect newspaper advertising and postcard mailings.

Members of the Greatest Generation (the WWII Generation) grew up through the Depression, made sacrifices during WWII and don't want to hear about the internet, computers or search engines. They will pick an agent based on personality and feeling a comfort level rather than the toys and the tools that you have to offer. With members of this generation, you may need to do lot of hand holding and exercise patience to walk them through the process.  They may have lived in their home for 30+ years and utmost diplomacy is needed in helping them prepare their home for sale --every bric-a-brac holds a special memory and to ask them to declutter can be construed as an insult.  Newspaper advertising is assumed to be the only way to advertise and they love to cut out the Ad to send to other family members. They call you regularly about showings and for some you may even need to go to their home during a showing to get them out of the house.  They want to chat with prospective buyers to tell them all about the home since who knows it better, so again tact and diplomacy are absolutely essential when working with these older clients.

So before you go on that listing presentation, determine what generation the seller is from, understand their different needs and concerns and be prepared to tailor you listing presentation and marketing to that generation.

www.margotfriedlander.net 

What to do as the temperatures dipped to 0 degrees in Westchester last night

Winter arrived here in Westchester with an Artic blast last night as the temperatures dipped to about 0 degrees and it was only 5 degrees when I got up today. Though most of us at night are home warm and safe, we must remember that there are many who are out in the cold at night working for us.

Tonight if the fire horn in your town goes off in the middle of the night, rather than be annoyed at having been awoken, remember the volunteer fireman, police and volunteer ambulance corps workers who will leave their warm beds to respond to protect our communities.  Also, if there is a power outage some where, think of the Con Ed, NYSEG, Verizon and other utility company workers who will be out there climbing poles to restore our services.

We must also think about our neighbors especially if they are elderly and check on them make sure their heat is on and help them adjust their thermostats so they will remain safe and warm through this cold spell over the next few days.

Here are two good website links with suggestions on what we can do in our own homes to improve energy efficiency and conserve oil to reduce our expenses:  http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.es_at_home and http://www.energy.gov/yourhome.htm 

We also need to prepare ourselves in case we do have a power outage and the furnace goes off. What would you do? What do you have at home to deal with the situation? What is your family's plan?

1. You should have at home flashlights with good NEW batteries in case the power goes out.
2. You should also have a portable radio so you can check the news to see how widespread the situation is.
3. Keep you cell phone charged so you can make important calls to utility companies & family & friends if necessary.
4. Keep handy the numbers of your local utility companies so you can call them to obtain an idea of when power can realistically be expected to be restored.
5. Have some cash on hand in case the situation is widespread and your local ATM machine isn't working.
6. Put gas in you car today in case gas station pumps aren't working tomorrow and you need to drive a distance for shelter.
7. Decide where you and your family will go for shelter in case the situation is expected to last for days before power is restored. Your family's safety and well being are most important.
8. If you are planning to stay in your home for a while to see if power is restored, don't use gas ovens or propane heaters for heat as many have caused accidental deaths by fire and carbon monoxide poisoning.
9. Also if you plan to remain in you home, keep food items handy that don't need refrigeration or electricy such as water, crackers, bread, peanut butter & jelly but if you have young children or elderly household members, be sure to take them to a warm, safe location for shelter as their health & immune sytems aren't as strong to withstand long periods of cold.
10. Get out of the attic those extra blankets, sleeping bags and whatever thermal items that might be useful to keep you warm if you must go outside or if the power goes out.
11. Remember to have patience with those around you as they too are cold and make it as easy as possible for those who must work outside tonight and tomorrow and everyday to protect us. Don't blame them for any power outage or inconvenience as they too are cold and just trying to help you.

The important thing is make a plan that works for your family...NOW...before the lights go out. Decide NOW if you will stay or go and where you will go if necessary. Check your home NOW for those batteries to see if they still work and shop for necessary items NOW so that at 2 am you won't find out what you need. With planning NOW we will all get through tonight and the bitter cold that is expected over the next week.