Skip to main content

Posted August 31, 2015

Fast . . . So They’re Not Furious
InSellerate, a lead-generation company, conducted a study that yielded some very interesting insights:

•   32% of consumers expect a company to respond to an online inquiry within 30 minutes
•   42% of consumers expect contact within one hour
•   More than half of the companies studied (56.34%) did not respond to the online or email inquiry at all

Of those companies that did respond, the average response time exceeded 24 hours, and the primary response vehicle was email, which is a passive, relatively non-effective method of contact.  The take-away thought from all of this is “no kidding”, of course, but it underscores the wisdom that a lead is only as good as the work you put into it.

Safety Over Sales
According to a USA Today article, realtors in Iowa are taking steps to ensure the safety of all agents. The initiative includes an optional seller contract that prohibits any agent from showing a property to someone they have not previously met and identified.  Ideally, the agent should insist that the buyer meet them at the agent’s office where she/he can check ID.  If thats not possible, the agent is encouraged to meet in a public place like a coffee shop.  The conventional wisdom behind this, of course, is meeting prospective buyers in public and checking their ID discourages would-be attackers and allows agents to spot red flags in a safe place. 

Real estate brokerages and other firms all over the country have joined Open Door Partners (www.meetmeherefirst.com).  This is a service in which participating companies open their facilities for agents – even from competing companies/brokerages – to meet with prospective buyers before going out to view a property.  The site enables an agent to input an address and find participating companies within a specified radius.  In those instances when such a company is not close, it will list a Starbucks location that is convenient. 

Bark First, Delay the Bite
There are pending bills in both the Senate and the House to provide a hold-harmless period from the enforcement of TRID through the end of the year.  The main argument is that a grace period is necessary to assure companies have sufficient time to test their systems to comply with TRID without the fear of any repercussions.  Priority Lending has been ready since the early summer – we’re THAT good. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Numbers Don't Lie, But Wherein Lies the Truth? (Posted November 21, 2016)

Said with enough conviction, you can make almost anything sound true.   Preface the fabrication with “according to a recent bi-partisan government study,” and you’re three quarters of the way to selling the lie to a lot of people.   Seriously, try this. The next time you’re at a dinner party or having coffee with friends, pepper this little tidbit into the conversation: “I read something really interesting the other day.   According to a recent bi-partisan government study – I think it took them three years to get it all done – middle-aged men who drive either a Toyota Camry or a Honda Odyssey have more testosterone than younger men who drive either a Ford F150 or a Dodge Charger.”   You’ll get some raised eyebrows and looks of mild disbelief, but don’t let that deter you.   Just lift up your hands, palms outward, and say, “I just think it’s interesting, and it makes sense when you think about it” – and then change the subject to something completely u...

Dumb as (or Smart as) a Box of Rocks (Posted June 27, 2016)

Obviously, you all want to know what Brexit means to the economy and the housing market specifically.   So do I!   But since my crystal ball is at the cleaner’s, let’s give the Brits and the European Union a little time to work out the terms of their separation and look at something else.   What’s a “fad ”?   With the help of Google, this is what I got as a definition: “an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived and without basis in the object's qualities; a craze.” In April 1975, an advertising executive by the name of Gary Dahl invented the Pet Rock.   The idea came from his sitting in a bar with some friends who were complaining about the cost and time required to take care of various types of pets.   He marketed his “pets” by placing a rock in a box cut and shaped like one you would get at the pet store to carry home a puppy or a kitten.   Along with the box and the rock, a booklet was included...

Left Behind (Posted April 4, 2016)

It’s highly likely that almost every single one of you already read the Yahoo! Finance article about the survey that Chase recently completed.   For the seven people who decided to take a nap under a rock last week, I’m going to share some of the major talking points here – the rest of you can step away and have an ice cream or paint your cat’s toenails.   First off, the survey shows that an ALARMING 68% of Americans are starting the home search on their own (gasp!) with 45% using a computer or laptop (as opposed to some other type of technologically advanced processor like a microwave oven) as the first step in this search and 13% using their mobile devices.   (In other related news from the Department of the Obvious, scientists have found that fish still have no use of a bicycle and looking directly at the sun is inadvisable.)   With numbers like these, we should just throw in the towel and join the circus, right?   Here’s the weird thing: in the ...