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All Forum Posts by: Ashton Karp

Ashton Karp has started 8 posts and replied 40 times.

Post: Prospect follow up when being ignored

Ashton KarpPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Bonney Lake, WA
  • Posts 40
  • Votes 27
Quote from @Allan Smith:
Quote from @Ashton Karp:
Quote from @Allan Smith:

First, make sure you call them within five minutes of receiving their response. 

ghosting after 2 touches probably means they found someone they like who can solve their problem. Better sales process will help reduce, and improve results.

lastly, general rule of thumb is to stop following up after the house is sold to someone else. Try to build meaningful relationship right away to where they like to chat and answer your call.

Thank you for the reply. You think calling after first response, even if it’s a response from a text message, is best practice?

Also, the prospects I am dealing with have not sold yet and I do not believe they are all committed to another buyer/agent. My question is more for how frequently I should follow up and what methods are going to illicit a response. 
 


 I would probably call weekly until I get a response, after 30 weekly calls, I might shift to monthly calls. You might not want to call them right away after he text message but I have found that qualified leads don't really want to be texting back and forth all day they have a problem to solve and want to get going with it. Typically the sooner you get somebody on the phone the sooner you're moving a lead along.


 I do like the idea of 30 weekly calls and then moving them into monthly calls. I’ve been operating on about 5 in a row daily contact attempts and then moving to monthly calls. Depending on the lead type I will probably follow the structure you’re talking about here. Thanks!

Post: Prospect follow up when being ignored

Ashton KarpPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Bonney Lake, WA
  • Posts 40
  • Votes 27
Quote from @Eliott Elias:

Reach out to every lead once a month and never delete contacts. Keep messaging them unless they tell you to stop, I would call and get clarity on all leads. People need your real estate services, wether it's a rental, listing, or buy 

Once a month is how I’ve been operating. Depending on the lead I will follow up a couple times in a row and then they get phased into a monthly call. Thank you!

Post: Prospect follow up when being ignored

Ashton KarpPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Bonney Lake, WA
  • Posts 40
  • Votes 27
Quote from @Allan Smith:

First, make sure you call them within five minutes of receiving their response. 

ghosting after 2 touches probably means they found someone they like who can solve their problem. Better sales process will help reduce, and improve results.

lastly, general rule of thumb is to stop following up after the house is sold to someone else. Try to build meaningful relationship right away to where they like to chat and answer your call.

Thank you for the reply. You think calling after first response, even if it’s a response from a text message, is best practice?

Also, the prospects I am dealing with have not sold yet and I do not believe they are all committed to another buyer/agent. My question is more for how frequently I should follow up and what methods are going to illicit a response. 
 

Post: Prospect follow up when being ignored

Ashton KarpPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Bonney Lake, WA
  • Posts 40
  • Votes 27

I am finishing my first year as a real estate agent and am hitting a block with follow ups on leads. I focus my business on door knocking, cold calling, and my sphere, with the intent of purchasing physically distressed property when I am in a stronger capital position. 
The amount of qualified leads that I am coming across is fairly high but I am having trouble getting responses from a lot of them. I will verify the correct contact information so I know I am reaching out to the correct individuals and I will even have responses that show interest in selling or purchasing. A lot of these leads go ghost after one or two interactions, if they respond at all.
When this happens what is the general response I should have? Should I continue to reach out regularly in different ways (email, phone, knock on their door, etc.), leave them alone, refer to someone else or other? 
When I do reach out my touches range from “just checking in” to applicable market updates or explaining I only need a few minutes of their time to discuss XYZ. 
Any help or advice in regards to these situations would be helpful. I can provide specific examples of prospects if needed to clarify my situation.

Thank you!

Post: Is easy money done for?

Ashton KarpPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Bonney Lake, WA
  • Posts 40
  • Votes 27

The last 15 years we have seen low rates for short and long term debt from private to public borrowing. My understanding is that this was a response to the Great Recession and that investors didn't allow rates to hit historic norms again. This caused asset prices across the board to inflate to match the accessibility of money since the debt service was so cheap. We had a last oorah over the last 2 years as rates hit all time lows and money access was at all time highs. This has affected asset prices from homes, businesses, stocks, etc and allowed public debt to skyrocket. With this in mind, what are expectations for money borrowing in the future? Some people say that easy money is over and others say we couldn't handle raising rates to pre 2000's norms because of the cost of current public/private debt. When I look at the current inverted bond yield curve I am now leaning towards the latter since investors who drive the market are saying, "we think rates will be lower in the future compared to now so we're going to bet on a lower yield over a longer period." 

My point in asking this is to have a better understanding for if mortgage rates are going to eventually settle in the 4's, 5's, 6's or higher. This drastically changes my investing and consulting because I can make an educated guess about future cash flow and take advantage of the slowdown in this market while buyers sit on the sidelines watching to see what happens. 

What do you think the future of money borrowing will look like?

Post: Payoff Debt or Move Forward?

Ashton KarpPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Bonney Lake, WA
  • Posts 40
  • Votes 27
Quote from @Michael Barido:

I know this is personal for everyone but I'd like to share where I am. My wife and I have good jobs and we do have $80k in debt (not good debt but bad debt). We have leftover around $3,200/ month and we currently have 2 rentals not counting our house havk basement apartment (yes the cash flow is part of the $3,200/month leftover). These rentals were houses we lived in prior to them being rental. I have HELOCS with my residence and one if the rentals totalling $150k. I was thinking of using the HELOCS to get rid of the $80k which is a higher interest and then knocking thise balances out. My question is would you continue to knock out the $80k debt with the $3,200/month and use the HELOC to invest in real estate or would you knock $80k with the $3,200/month and then use the HELOC to invest?


I assume you have savings set aside to weather economic storms, otherwise you wouldn't drain your credit access to pay off high interest debt. That being said, I think the answer comes down to the differential in interest being paid on your current debt and the HELOC. If the difference is 3% then mathematically your best option would be an investment that pays back more than it saves. If you have 80k in 28% credit card debt then make the move and pay it off with your secured debt.

Post: Home equity loans to avoid capital gains upon sale

Ashton KarpPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Bonney Lake, WA
  • Posts 40
  • Votes 27

I am not in a position to act on this question but am genuinely curious about its possibility.

When it comes to capital gains tax, this is paid when selling an asset for a profit after any adjustments that can and are able to be made, but only upon realizing the profits. If I understand, this means that any loans that encumber the asset are deducted from the net profit, therefore lowering the taxable basis.

What limitations are there for encumbering a property that has high equity, prior to a sale, in order to lower the tax basis as much as possible? Are there typically clauses in mortgage liens that would prevent someone from taking a second mortgage and subsequently selling the property?

Excuse me being naive in asking this question.

Post: Pay off student loans or invest ?

Ashton KarpPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Bonney Lake, WA
  • Posts 40
  • Votes 27

@Gervon Thompson leverage debt to hedge the impending inflation

Post: Should I get real estate license to buy investment properties?

Ashton KarpPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Bonney Lake, WA
  • Posts 40
  • Votes 27

Getting your license is inexpensive and gives you the opportunity to educate yourself on state and national legal structuring around real estate to give you the framework to build off of and is worth it, in my opinion, just for that. For using a license to save on commissions it does mean you will need to spend the time and money marketing the property and negotiating on your own behalf instead of leveraging a broker's time, efforts, network and skill to do it for you. I think it's relative to your specific goals and access to time and money if you should use your license to organize your own transactions.

Post: 50 words or less - Getting First Downpayment

Ashton KarpPosted
  • Real Estate Agent
  • Bonney Lake, WA
  • Posts 40
  • Votes 27

@Derek Meyer I think intelligence is second to discipline this early in the game. I purchased my primary residence with 0% of my own money using a down payment assistance program bundled in a conventional mortgage. If your friend wants into the game ASAP I would be more concerned about DTI and credit than savings if he has credit card debt. There's plenty of first time home buyers programs out there that will help if those are in line.