How’s Your Hiring Paradigm?

If you haven’t given much thought to the employees or assistants that you hire, it’ time to evaluate your hiring practices.

You may have a policy and procedures manual that describes the basic attitudes, rules of conduct, functions, operations, forms, regulations, and guidelines for internal behavior, interactions with your customers, and compliance with applicable laws.

You may have formal written job descriptions for each position that details the title, objectives, skill set, responsibilities, and functions of the various positions in your company.

You may have a formal organizational structure with a chain of command.

What you may not have, however, is an inadequate hiring paradigm.

What I mean is that the reason you hire someone, the way you advertise and interview for the position, the expectations you create, and the way you evaluate and monitor performance may not be getting you the best employees.

This is especially prevalent and noticeable in any position where interaction occurs with your public – regardless of the specific official title of those positions.

While hiring people with the appropriate technical skills and minimum job qualifications are important, it won’t matter a bit if they don’t relate well to your customers and your public doesn’t feel that you care about them, respect them, and want to serve them – before, during, and after they make a purchase.

Your hiring paradigm must focus on the customer relationship you want and need to create, foster, and maintain as well as the skill set and basic qualifications to do the job.

* For more information about my consulting and coaching services visit my website stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can join this site and begin participating in the fun and networking opportunities by clicking here.

40 Tips for A Better Life - Part 3

In this challenging housing market, it's important to stay focused and positive. Here are a few tips to help you do just that. In Parts 1 and 2, I offered the first 20 tips. Here are 10 more.

21. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

22. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

23. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

24. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'

26. Forgive everyone for everything.

27. What other people think of you is none of your business.

28. REMEMBER, GOD heals everything.

29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

30. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Chuck Miller GMB CGB MIRM CMP MCSP CSP
President / Builder – Chuck Miller Construction Inc.
(208) 229-2553
www.chuckmillerconstruction.com

Making a Sale Everytime Isn't Desirable

How’d you like to close the sale everytime you met with a customer? Sound good? Not so fast.

I mean really close every customer you meet – not just on the next contact but an actual deposit and agreement. Think you’d like to be able to do that?

Well you might be able to actually do it from a skill and technique level. You might even be able to do it from a pure desire level. However, you don’t really want to make a sale to every single customer you meet.

Allow me to explain. In the first place if you literally sold a home to every customer you met you’d either be too busy doing all of the selections, finishing the paperwork, and processing the mortgage applications that you would have little time available to see any more customers for a while, or you’d soon be sold out of everything you had available.

Then in a realistic sense, not everyone will like what you build or what you’re selling or be prepared to make a decision. They may just enjoy looking and never buy anything – from you or anyone else.

In a more practical sense – particularly if you’re selling new homes – there are some customers who present too many challenges to make the process enjoyable, even if they like your homes and want to own one.

In some cases, customers are so difficult to work with that you will eventually give them back their deposit and cancel the sale (or wish that you could). When that isn’t possible, you will find yourself on a daily quest to satisfy all of their demands for perfection in the new home – both during construction and after delivery.

So as enticing as it sounds to be able to make a sale with every customer, be wary of those who shouldn’t be your customers and let them buy from someone else.

Set your sights on selling nearly all of those who like what you offer and like the way you do business.

* For more information about my consulting and coaching services visit my website stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can join this site and begin participating in the fun and networking opportunities by clicking here.

40 Tips for A Better Life - Part 2

In this challenging housing market, it's important to stay focused and positive. Here are a few tips to help you do just that. In Part 1, I offered the first 10 tips. Here are 10 more.

11.Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.

12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

13. Clear clutter from your house, your car, and your desk, and let new and flowing energy into your life.

14. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, OR issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class, but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

17. Smile and laugh more. It will keep the NEGATIVE BLUES away.

18. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

20. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

Chuck Miller GMB CGB MIRM CMP MCSP CSP
President / Builder – Chuck Miller Construction Inc.
(208) 229-2553
www.chuckmillerconstruction.com

Understanding FHA

After years of being a small player in the home mortgage business (less than 3% of home loans placed in 2006,) the FHA is being positioned by the Federal Government to be the “key” player in implementing whatever legislation are passed focusing on the foreclosure debacle.

Over the last number of years, FHA loans fell out of favor as a well understood and utilized loan program, as other lenders offered loan programs with less stringent requirements. Times have changed.

Our goal is to help you understand what FHA loans are, their restrictions and requirements and how to apply this knowledge in your business.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which operates within the Department of Housing and Urban Development, was established for the purpose of securing home loans through mortgage insurance that it offers home buyers as well as lenders.

The main focus of this program has been to aid the 1st time homebuyer and individuals that might not qualify for a conventional loan because of credit score or minimal down payment requirements. One advantage that FHA loans had was that they did not differentiate their charges for mortgage insurance based on credit scores. This benefited borrowers with lower equity in their home and credit scores under 620.

This past week, FHA announced that effective July 14, it will introduce risk based pricing. This change will require upfront mortgage insurance premiums based on a borrower’s credit score and down payment. These changes are similar to those announced by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac earlier this year as a method to mitigate their risk.

As you have seen over the last number of months, these government agencies, including Fannie and Freddie, are struggling to provide a safety net for home owners. Our goal is to continue to provide you with current information on these changes and the effect on the real estate markets.

Ahead of the Curve

In my Active Rain blog 2 weeks ago on April 29th, I pronounced the end of the housing difficulties we have been experiencing in many parts of the country and proclaimed that the market had reached the bottom.

This was done mostly in jest, but let’s face it, it’s time we got on with the business of selling homes and prepared for a more optimistic outcome than most of the press would allow.

Now, it looks like I’m not the only one feeling this way. In a Wall Street Journal editorial this past Friday (May 9th), Cyril Moulle-Berteaux wrote “The Housing Crisis Is Over.”

Maybe I had it right after all.

* For more information about my consulting and coaching services visit my website stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can join this site and begin participating in the fun and networking opportunities by clicking here.

Hard Money Loans

With the number of bank-owned foreclosure properties on the rise and the decline in home values throughout the country, there are certainly good deals to be found if you are looking to purchase an investment property or two or refinance a default personal mortgage loan.

The fact is there are many investors and real estate professionals not familiar with hard money loans.

No matter how good of a deal you can get on a property, qualifying to purchase an investment property can be very difficult under conventional lending guidelines. Additionally, many conventional mortgage lenders have not only tightened their lending guidelines, but have simply done away with financing investment properties.

If you are planning on building a spec home, purchasing a property as an investment, or are even a real estate agent and are working with someone who would like to purchase a short sale or investment property, knowing what types of private financing are available and a general understanding of how private "hard money" financing works is a must.

A brief rundown on hard money loans

Hard money loans are generally used to purchase non owner-occupied investment properties or refinance owner occupied foreclosure bailouts. Hard money loans are also equity-based instead of credit and asset -based, so the borrower does not have to meet the same lending criteria, income ratios, and credit worthiness that they would have to meet under conventional lending guidelines.

Hard money deals are backed by private investor capital and are reviewed and approved on a case-by-case basis. Generally, if the borrower is interested in purchasing an investment property, the only real requirement is that the property truly is a good investment for everyone involved.So what signifies a good deal in the eyes of a hard money lender?

Here are some general guidelines hard money lenders follow...

The total loan amount is no greater than 60% of the CURRENT, AS-IS value of the home. This is also referred to as the loan-to-value ratio or "LTV".

The borrower has a stake in the property rather it be their own cash they are investing or even other investment properties they are using as collateral to secure the loan. Most hard money lenders generally like to see that the borrower has at least 20% of their own cash invested in the project, not including closing costs.

The lender must also hold "first position" on the property. This means that the hard money lender must hold the primary, 1st mortgage on the property. Hard money lenders will rarely lend a 2nd mortgage on a property unless there is other collateral involved.

Another benefit to hard money loans is that often times the total interest and points for a portion of or the entire loan term are "rolled" into the loan amount and paid in advance at closing. This means that most borrowers will not have to worry about paying a monthly mortgage payment to the hard money lender for most, if not all of the loan.

Hard money purchases can be closed in as little as 5 business days and financing is available for nearly any type of property. Everything from raw land, to single family rehab properties, to large commercial, hotel, and condo developments in Florida.

Are you ready for voice mail?

We’ve all received voice mail messages, and you probably have received voice mail messages from companies that were intentionally delivered as such.

I mean that no one was actually making the call, and had you been there to answer, the call would have ended – I know because I have experienced this.

The whole purpose of the call was to leave you a message. Before the call was ever made, it had been carefully prepared, scripted, and recorded to be broadcast to you and possibly dozen or maybe even hundreds or thousands of others.

Its advertising message, solicitation request, or call to action was intentional. This was not a call where someone was winging it. There were no “ums” or “uhs” or "ahs" unplanned pauses. The message was probably not rushed but neither was it drawn out.

Here’s my point, when you call to reach a customer – whether you have a scheduled phone appointment with them or not, and whether they are expecting you to call or not – be prepared.

Obviously you want to speak with your customers rather than just leave a message, but you may not be successful in reaching them.

I’m not a fan of leaving message after message, but a voice mail message on the initial post-visit contact and on any call where you and your customer had discussed a specific time to talk or the likelihood of you calling is in order.

Therefore plan for this possibility.

Before you ever place the call, ask yourself what you would say if you got their machine instead of them.

Briefly rehearse your message so that it makes sense and doesn’t sound like you were caught off-guard and unprepared. Then deliver it with confidence and energy that conveys that you are mildly disappointed for not reaching them but that you are looking forward to actually speaking with them and are excited about their interest in what you are offering.

Then you can suggest that you will try calling them again. Asking them to call you probably is not going to be productive.

You can choose to forego leaving a message altogether and just hang up as soon as you hear the voice mail greeting. However, if you do decide to leave a message, don't stammer through it and regret what you said or the way it sounded. Have a plan.

* For more information about my consulting and coaching services visit my website stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can join this site and begin participating in the fun and networking opportunities by clicking here.

Thank You Nashville SMC

This morning, I had a truly enjoyable time as the guest speaker for the monthly roundtable forum of the Nashville SMC. Thanks for your hospitality. We had a great time sharing ideas on generating our own leads and not relying so much on traditional advertising sources for lead production. There was a wonderful mix of on-site salespeople, sales managers, marketers, advertisers, title companies, lenders, and Realtors. Remember to use those business cards.

* For more information about my consulting and coaching services visit my website stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can join this site and begin participating in the fun and networking opportunities by clicking here.

Meeting People Is Easy – If You Are Willing To Try

The key to making sales – in addition to having a great, competitive product – is having sufficient customers for your product. Of course, one of the ways to attract new customers is through advertising.

Another way – and my favorite – is self-generation. This requires work, and may take a while before you see a return so you may need some advertising in conjunction with this.

The premise of self-generation is that the salesperson (who could be the builder or owner if they are doing their own sales) is responsible for producing new leads from which to make the sales the company needs to stay in business. In an ideal sense, the salesperson would produce all of their own leads and not rely on any additional advertising or promotion.

So if self-generation is to occur, where does it begin? Start with the obvious – people you know, regardless of how well or for how long you have known them. This includes friends, family, acquaintances, former customers, referrals, and professional contacts.

Then we expand to those people you haven’t yet met – strangers. For most people, this has the most potential.

How do you meet strangers? By being available.

Today in the airport, I met several people that I had never seen before and learned more about them than their name and where they’re from. How did this happen? By being available and interested.

If you are willing to meet people and willing to have a conversation with them, you will meet new people.

Remember the goal of meeting people is not to make an immediate sale. It’s the foundation of a budding relationship that can build into a sale or a referral. I said it was work, but this is a great way to be responsible for producing more of your own traffic.

* For more information about my consulting and coaching services visit my website stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can join this site and begin participating in the fun and networking opportunities by clicking here.