Alan In Austin: August 2008

Realtors work on weekends! I thought it might be interesting to look at a week the life of a Realtor. Every week holds something a little different and that is why I love this job. I meet great people along the way each day and I get to work for Jason Crouch. What else could you ask for?

SATURDAY: Early Morning Yard work. Met a client at the Title company to Close on their property at 10am. had a few complications in paperwork so we did not finish until 12noon. Yea we closed! Left Title company to meet with prospect who wants to lease an apartment. Met them at 12:30pm left them at 2pm. Met with sellers agent on above property to do an exchange at 3pm. Ran to the home office to pick up printed marketing materials took it to my listing finished at 5pm. Back to the office to answer email and phone calls finished at about 6:45pm Went to dinner with my lovely wife.

SUNDAY: Breakfast with the family at IHOP. Followed by Church. After church held an open House on a listing I have from 12:30pm to 4:30pm. Had lots of visitors. May have sold the home. We will find out in a couple of weeks. Back to the home office to send out emails and do follow calls for those who visited. Did some blogging while at the Open house. Finished work at about 7pm

MONDAY: Early rise at 5am to work on a commercial development proposal. 9am work on office generated leads until 12:30. Met a Realtor for lunch to discuss a new listing stratigy. Left at 2pm. Farming time: passed out my card with a referral letter to a few places where I do business regularly. 3:45pm returned to office and returned 3 phone calls. Finished the day early at 4:30pm

TUESDAY; Early rise again 5am. Briefly walked my community left some of my cards with flyer's on about 30 doors. I needed the walk. 7am off to my Starbucks office met a pastor friend and had coffee. He is looking for some property to build a church. Went to the Airport to pick up my two nieces at 11am. They are staying with us for a week. Worked in office on various projects from 2 to 6pm.

WEDNESDAY: Slept in! Up at 7am. Returned email. Worked phones on generated leads until noon. Took the kids to lunch. 1:40 returned kids home went to Title Company workshop on 1031 exchanges and proposed tax changes for 2009. 4pm meeting ended. Returned to office to work on personal marketing material.

THURSDAY. TOOK THE DAY OFF AND TOOK THE KIDS TUBING IN THE RIVER! YEA!

FRIDAY: Early rise 5am. Workout in gym until 6:30pm. Returned to home office and prepared for two meetings for the day. Need to do this more someone remind me. Meet with clients at 10am Starbucks office. Discussed their future plans to buy in Austin. Took them listings to review. Another client at another Starbucks in Austin at 1pm. They are looking commercial business, took them listings. Back at home office at 3:30pm made phone calls to set up weekend showings and connect with current listing clients. Called it a day at 5:30pm. Cooked dinner.

TERAVISTA IN ROUND ROCK TEXAS!

What are you missing by not living at Teravista in Round Rock, Texas?

Incredible Homes like this one by Highland Homes!

 Great Neighbors and great neighborhoods. An 18 hole golf course, workout center and two huge pools. Brand new elementary school opening this fall in Teravista. Beautiful club house and Ranch house for special parties and community celebrations.

Close to Austin (Just 15 minutes north of downtown Austin). Top rated schools, next door to the outlet mall, Ikea, and a host of great restaurant's like: Mimi's Cafe, Le Madeline, Chili's, Steak and Shake, TGI Fridays.

Want to learn more? Email me at roundrockhomes@gmail.com  and I will be happy to send you more great information on Teravista.

Body language is a popular topic these days and it is an advantage in negotiation to be able to read the body language of one you are negotiating with.

I have discovered that a handshake can tell you a great deal about a person. Do they grasp your hand or do they retreat as you attempt to shake their hand. Is the handshake firm or open? Some people insist on shaking your hand in the proper manner as if they read a manual on the art of handshaking. It is almost a process for them and they will teach if you allow them. It finishes with a real shake and then they move back into protected personal space and the conversation goes from there.

So what can you learn from a handshake? These are just my thoughts about it.

1. Proper handshake: Those who insist on the proper handshake seem to like to know the details (all of them). They are not easily impressed by your knowledge or high tech tools, they want to see your plan and the logic behind it. If it makes sense you will have a client.

2. The open handed handshake. Those who do not clasp our hand may be telling us something from the beginning. They may not trust as easily and we should take the time to make them feel secure and safe before we launch into our presentation.

3. The Double handed handshake: You know the one where as you are shaking their hand and they use their free hand to cover your hand. A couple of thoughts here... they are signaling that they feel in control, comfortable and will listen. Our presentation here should touch the facts but also the emotions.

4. The firm handshake: The one that almost crushes your hand. This handshake is intended to send a power message and does. This person is often mentally timing you from the moment you begin to speak. Don't waste their time. Be clear, concise and well prepared. Add humor where appropriate and you could gain a client.

My broker is forcing me to write about this. Ha. No actually he just suggested that I tell you the story I told him.

 Many people see ministers as the well dressed, sermon givers who also have office counseling hours and a good community reputation. Ministry is not really all that glamorous. I had the education and the oratory skills but where you could find me most often was in a T-shirt and jeans: Mowing lawns, repairing broken plumbing, grouting freshly laid tile, painting, pouring over monthly budgets to try and find room for cuts or money to make needed improvements. As a full time Youth Minister, I cleaned the church on weekends, swept the parking lot and printed the weekly bulletin in addition to running a sizable youth and children's weekly program.

I would like to say that all that has changed since becoming a Realtor. Truth is: life is pretty much the same. Last week two days of my life were spent in the sellers empty pool making repairs. Did I mention that I represent the buyer? The seller (a single woman) who has done much of the repair work on her property by herself found out that the appraiser would want to see the pool full of water and to her credit was willing to put in some hard work to make sure we could fill it with water. However she needed help and with my client out of town and her agent somewhat handicapped it was super Realtor to the rescue. Ha

Since becoming a Realtor a little over a year ago, I have helped move a family, mowed lawns, fixed a broken sprinkler head, removed broken window frames, painted,  and repaired a pool. Plus I have fed pets, replaced light bulbs, vacuumed rugs and baked cookies. All in a days work for a Realtor.

If you need cookies baked or rugs vacuumed, give me a call. Ha.