All Forum Posts by: Charlie MacPherson

This property is under agreement - at 107% of asking price!

First, just to CYA, be sure you've read the showing instructions.  Here in MA, you'll sometimes see "call listing office".  Others "call listing agent".  Sometimes it's DON'T call listing agent - call Showing Time (appointment service).

Next, I'd just be honest with the LA.  "Hey, I don't know what to do here.  I've been trying to reach you to show 123 Main St, but you haven't returned any of the 3 messages I've left.  I don't want to go over your head to your broker/owner, but I don't know what else to do.  Please call me ASAP at 555-555-5555."  

Send it in an email so you have a paper trail, and then if there's no response within 24 hours, call the broker/owner.

JUST LISTED - MOVE-IN CONDITION!

1 bed condo at Sheridan Square in Rockland MA.  Condo fee includes heat, elevator, pool and all the usual exterior maintenance and landscaping.

Area rents support $900, and the unit is currently vacant.

Great area and the unit appears to be in EXCELLENT condition.

DISCLOSURE - I am the listing agent and licensed to sell real estate in Massachusetts.

- Charlie MacPherson, Clear Sailing Realty, Norwell MA. 781-412-4151

Check out Groupon.  I've seen some $179 deals out there.

Whatever you do, consider professional level photography.

At a minimum, a wide angle lens ~16mm (effective) plus HDR of at least 7 stops plus and minus.  

If those terms sound like a foreign language, hire a pro - and look at their portfolio before spending money.

Consider too a drone - but beware of the FAA regs.  I'm not sure where they stand now, but last I heard, commercial use of a drone required a pilot's license.

Also, look over other luxury listings for tip that you can steal, er borrow.  Look at the terms they use in writing up the listings.  There's a certain language and style to these kinds of listings.

Good luck!

I've been watching a property that had real flip potential.  It sold 8 months ago and the buyer has done a little clean up of the overgrown yard, but work has appeared to be at a standstill for several months.

The address for the owner in public record is the property address, and given that it's uninhabitable, seems unlikely.

I need ideas for tracking this person down.  411.com, google, bing and white pages.com are no help.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Hi Charles.  We should connect - I'm almost next door in Scituate.

In Mass, you have to have a salesperson's license for 3 years before you're allowed to sit for the broker's exam.

I took the class on DVD at Weichert Realtors in Scituate.  Jim and Donna Chase (Donna is the owner/broker) are nice folks.  I worked there for a while after getting licensed, but have moved on to open my own brokerage.

The class in this state is 40 hours.  It took me 2 weeks to get it done.  If you do it, the best advice I can give you is to take the exam as soon as possible.

I talked to the Lee Real Estate School (www.LeeInstitute.com) and they seem to have a good operation too.

In the meantime, contact me if you're looking for flips now - I'm working with a lot of investors and would be happy to help you with properties in Plymouth, Bristol, Norfolk and Suffolk counties. 

For what it's worth, I did a smaller spend on:

1. Trulia (before the merger with Zillow).  Somewhat high volume of poor quality leads. About 85% in the poorest town in the county, which was not the primary target of my campaign. It was one of the "bonus" towns.

2. Realtor.com.  Very low quantity of poor quality leads. Higher price towns, but still not converting well at all.

3. Google. I'm managing my own campaigns by braille.  Fair quantity of leads, but suspiciously, a significant number of clicks are in the 2 AM to 3 AM time frame.  Not converting well, but the campaign is still new and needs tweaking.

I'm about to do a JV with a much larger real estate brokerage from another state. When we talked, they shared their study results obtained by talking with brokers around the country who are diligent about data tracking. Here's what they found.

Zillow, Trulia and Realtor (ZTR) won't make hard claims on lead quality, but they will "suggest" that you should close 5% of raw leads.

This JV company's study showed that across the nation, ZTR leads actually converted at 0.5% to 1%.

With that, you can figure out whether a spend is worth it.  My cost for the Realtor.com leads was a little over $500/month.  I got about 25 leads over 6 months.  The average commission in my pocket (the pocket that's paying for the leads) is $7000 per closed sale.

Assume that I covert at 1% of raw leads - the high end of the study results.  I need 100 leads to close 1 sale.  25 leads in 6 months means that I need 24 months of leadgen with Realtor.com to generate 100 leads.

24 months at $500/month = a $12,000 ad spend to generate $7,000 in net commission.  

If I close at 0.5% of raw leads (the low end of the study results), I'd need to spend $24,000 to generate that same $7,000 in commission.

To break even, I'd need to close 1.71% of leads, which sounds good if you say it fast, but with measured numbers suggesting 0.5% to 1%, seems unrealistic. 

Using the study's median close rate of 0.75%, I'd have to improve my close ratio by a factor of 2.28 just to break even on the ad spend!

The major problem I have with the likes of ZTR is that they put these great sales pitches on, and if everything works the way that they say it will (5% conversion), then I win and they win.

But if - as research suggests - things don't work out the way they suggest, then I lose - but they still win.  I take 100% of the risk and they have nothing to lose. 

If one of them would offer a risk-sharing leadgen program, I'd listen, but short of that, I am about done with these snake oil salesmen and their "programs".

PS - for many of the lower cost ZTR programs, don't forget that the same lead goes out to 3 or more realtors at the same time. No wonder the REAL conversion rates are so awful.

My coach has STRONGLY recommended MOJO dialer.  I'm not quite ready for it, but it does seem like it's worth a look.

I pull expired off MLS every morning, but my biggest problem is that there are so many with unpublished phone numbers. I'm developing a leave-behind package that I'll use when I go door knocking for FSBOs and overgrown yards.

For a FSBO list, try www.LandVoice.com.  They scrub agains the "do not call" list and provide phone numbers.  Also www.Vulcan7.com.

Some argue that we can call FSBOs and Expireds on the DNC because they have put themselves in the market. NAR issued guidelines saying not to call. It's up to you how you handle that question.

As a new agent, just be careful not to fall for the marketing pitches from companies promising to 10X your business if you buy their super-duper program for leadgen. There is absolutely no end to people (inevitably without money-back guarantees) promising FAR more than they can deliver.

Best of luck in your new career!