Jan O'Brien - Real Estate Coach

Real Estate Business Plan, Goal Setting and Action Plan

Basic Business planning is a 3 step process:

1. Set Your Goals/Outcomes
   

   Keys to Achievable Outcomes and Write Your Goals - Download Keys-to-an-Achievable-Outcome.pdf

2. Create Your Written Business Plan
   

   Form to Review your Previous Year's Business Download a_review_of_your_business.pdf

   A basic 3 page Business Plan  Download basic_real_estate_business_plan.pdf

3. Track and Measure your Results
   
   Performance Dashboard - Download 07-DashboardMaster.xls

   Basic Income and Expenses Statement  - Download income_statement.pdf

Visit this post - "Three Steps to Creating A Real Estate Busines Plan" for more details on real estate business planning and to download all the business planning and goal setting forms. 

Once you have your business plan in place, it is critical to review it and make necessary course corrections at least quarterly .  On a monthly basis, make sure to use the performance dashboard or a suitable tracking form to record your actuals and compare them to your plan or goal.

From the business plan you can create your daily, weekly, monthly ACTION PLAN.  This plan will outline the income-producing activities and other tasks you are committed to in order to achieve your  desired outcomes.  Review and stick to your Action Plan DAILY! 

• Put the document in front of your dayplanner
• Post it in your workspace
• Tape it to your bathroom mirror and review it daily
• Review and record your results daily also

A basic mantra or affirmation for your consideration and real estate success could simply be:

"I make one qualified appointment daily!" 

Create an Action Plan that works for you - it may consist of some of the following activities:

1. Make ______ contacts daily
2. Send ______ personal notes weekly
3. Add _______ people to your database weekly or monthly
4. Contact _____ FSBOs weekly
5. Contact ______ Expireds weekly
6. Hold ______ effective open houses weekly/ monthly
7. Mail or email to your SOI/Past clients valuable market information monthly
8. Mail or email to your designated farm of ______  properties monthly
9. Door knock/ door drop _________ houses monthly
10. Take ____ past client to lunch monthly
11. Network with ____ business to business referrals monthly
12. Hand out 5-10 business cards, 5 days/week and actively ask for business or for permission to add them to your database

Other resources:

5 Principles of Success

Keys to an Achievable Outcome

Career Realty - Business Plan Downloads page - a more detailed excel-based business plan, samples, budgets and other tracking forms are available at this website.

Quick Link to all posts in this series:  Real Estate Business Systems Series

Making Money with Effective Open Houses

Open Houses...You either love 'em or you hate 'em.  And depending on your attitude as a real estate agent - they either work for you or they don't. 

In my experience, open houses are the single, easiest, most cost effective way to make money in the real estate business.

Let's consider the benefits:

• Marketing exposure for your sellers and your active, saleable listing inventory.  There have been offers written and accepted on the actuall property an agent is holding open!
• Opportunity to meet and work with buyers and sellers and make additional sales.
• The real investment is your time!  Open houses can be the most cost effective prospecting activity if done properly.
• Worst case scenario - if no one shows up - you can catch up on admin tasks, follow-up calls, mailers and other "busy" work at the open house.  Preparation and planning is required! 

Attitude is Everything!
o Know  that the open house is going to be productive
o Plan, Prepare and Know the Property and the Market
o Ask, Believe, Receive!

Selecting the property
o Location (choose a listing that has great traffic; cross streets)
o Condition, price, terms (How does the property show? Is it priced to sell?)
o Your own listings – leverage success through

• Invest in Personalized Yard and Open House Signs
• Hold open houses on listings in your farm areas

o Research office/company listings and coordinate with the listing agent to hold them open
o Vacant vs. Occupied properties
o Open houses work any day of the week!!

Short Sale Tips for Real Estate Agents and Sellers

Mark Stark, CEO of Prudential Americana Group Realtors in Las Vegas has just posted some excellent tips and strategies for short sales.  This post is a summary of the major points he covered at a recent seminar attended by over 120 people in Las Vegas (consumers and real estate agents alike).

Mark includes valuable information geared to the consumer about:

• Why consider a short sale?
• The decision-making process and mindset of the seller
• Positioning yourself for the future
• Options and Solutions

More articles on REO, Short Sales, Foreclosures

Here are links to more great blog resources on short sales, REOs and foreclosures from the legal blog of Prudential Americana Group's in-house attorney, Darren Welsh:

REOs:

http://ameglegal.wordpress.com/2007/11/09/tgif-legal-tip-resale-packages-for-nevada-reo-sales/

Foreclosures:

http://ameglegal.wordpress.com/2007/04/27/tgif-legal-tip-foreclosuredeficiency/

Short Sales:

Listing Agent Perspective: http://ameglegal.wordpress.com/2008/02/08/tgif-short-sales-from-the-listing-agents-perspective/

Seller's Perspective:  http://ameglegal.wordpress.com/2007/05/04/tgif-legal-tip-short-sale-seller-perspective/#more-40

Mortgage Debt Relief for Foreclosures and Short Sales:  http://ameglegal.wordpress.com/2007/12/21/tgif-legal-tip-mortgage-debt-relief-for-foreclosures-short-sales/

New Location for Real Estate Blogging 101 CE Class

We have a new location for the upcoming Real Estate Blogging 101 classes in Las Vegas.

Download BlogClassFlyer_2008.pdf

Countrywide
7660 Dean Martin Drive Suite 201E
Las Vegas, NV 89139

View Larger Map

Class Time:  1:00 - 4:00 pm 

• Wednesday, July 30, 2008
• Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Cost:    $45 in advance; $55 at the door
Register online at www.CareerRealty.com 

Instructors: 

Jan O’Brien  858-9191, www.JanOBrien.com
Kathryn Bovard 348-7191, www.KathrynBovard.com
             
Three hour (CE Approved) training seminar covering …
o The State of the Internet – Stats – Trends – History
o Blogging 101
o What is a Blog? Who Is Blogging? Why should You Blog?
o How to get started blogging. How & Where to Find Blogs
o Lead Generation and Business Applications; Legal issues, Disclosures
o  How does Web 2.0/social networking impact the real estate industry?

Bonus Materials: Receive a copy of...
o Wordpress.com Tutorial ($20 value) A step-by-step guide to launch your FREE blog
o Real Estate Agents Internet Resource Guide ($10 value)
A comprehensive guide to online Listing Tools, Blogging and other Web 2.0 services, tools and technologies

Seating is Limited.  Register & reserve your seat online:
www.careerrealty.com

Real Estate Blogging 101 Class Schedule for Las Vegas

Kathryn Bovard and I have scheduled three additional dates for our "Real Estate Blogging 101" Continuing  Education Class:

Class Time: 1:00  to 4:00 pm

• Wednesday, June 4, 2008
• Wednesday, July 30, 2008
• Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Classes are held at Equity Title Training Center (Flamingo/Tenaya).  The cost: $45 (advance)  / $55 (at the door).  Register for an upcoming class at: CareerRealty.com

The class will cover the basics of blogging, benefits of a business blog, web 2.0, legal issues, the anatomy of a blog, tops tips for blogging, and much more.  All attendees will receive a Wordpress.com Tutorial outlining step-by-step instructions on how to start your own free blog.  Also included in the class is a second bonus - "Real Estate Blog & Web 2.0 Resource Guide Online."

Download BlogClassFlyer_2008.pdf

Real Estate Blogging 101 CE Class Schedule for 1st Qtr 2008

Attention Las Vegas Real Estate Agents, Mortgage Lenders, Escrow Officers and Small Business Owners....

Kathryn Bovard and I teach a 3 hour continuing education  (PD) class approved by the Nevada Real Estate Commission entitled "Real Estate Blogging 101 - How the Internet is Changing Business".  We've got two classes scheduled for 1st quarter 2008:

• Wednesday, January 30th, 1:30 to 4:30 pm
• Wednesday,March 26th, 1:00 to 4:00 pm

The classes are held in at the Equity Title Training Facility (4035 S Tenaya).  The cost is $45 in advance or $55 at the door. This course is designed as an introduction to Blogging and will cover everything from what is a blog to how a blog can become a viable lead generation tool for your real estate business.  You will leave the class with all the basic knowledge and a step-bystep tutorial to be able to easily launch your Free www.Wordpress.com blog.

Download BlogClassFlyer1QTR2008.pdf  (Download this flyer for all the details)

Space is limited - reserve your space and register online at www.careerrealty.com.

3 Steps to Creating a Real Estate Business Plan

It's that time again - time to manifest your success for a Great Year!  It all starts by writing your goals or desired outcomes, creating a written business plan and updating/revising your business budget then measuring and tracking your results.

All of the business plan and goal setting forms I will discuss can be downloaded at www.CareerRealty.com.  You will also find a more detailed Real Estate Business Plan and Budgets in Excel format - on the Business Plan downloads page at CareerRealty.com.

Step 1 - Set Your Goals (Outcomes). For a review of how to set powerful goals - here are three blog posts from earlier in 2007:

• How to Write Powerful Goals, Part 1
• How to Write Powerful Goals, Part 2
• 5 Principles of Success

Now, download this document and start writing your outcomes/goals:

• Download Keys-to-an-Achievable-Outcome.pdf

Step 2 - Create Your Business Plan.  Documents to download for writing your Business Plan:

• Download a_review_of_your_business.pdf  Start by analyzing your previous year's business - this form will help you gather and calculate key factors for your specific business.  Everything from sources of business to average days on market and listing to sale ratios.  Before you launch into your 2008 plan, it's critical to review what worked last year and to know your basic numbers.

• Download basic_real_estate_business_plan.pdf  This is a 2-page easy-to-use, basic real estate business plan.  Just follow the step-by step formula to turn your desired income goal into the number of listings, sales, contacts and appointments required to obtain it.

• Download allocating_time_to_build_your_business.pdf  An eye-opener exercise about the value of your time.

• Download DailyWorkPlan.pdf  A simple daily planner page that also helps you track productive activity.

• Download Attitude-Affirmations-TimeMgmt.pdf  A good review of what you already know!

Step 3 - Measure and Track Your Results.   You can’t improve what you don’t measure.   An excellent tracking system will allow you to make necessary course corrections and adjustments as well as gage your overall success.

• Download income_statement.pdf

• Some excellent tools to track and measure your performance and results - Performance Dashboard, Commission Tracking and Budgets -  can be downloaded at this Business Plan downloads page

Why Goal Setting is Important - Which group do you choose...

"In a fabled Harvard University study only three percent of Harvard students asked set and wrote goals on a regular basis. The stunning revelation of this study is that 30 years later, 50 percent of the total net worth of the group was held by just three percent of the group. You guessed it! They were the three percent that had a habit of setting and writing goals as students, then continued to write goals and review them regularly."

Source: How to Set and Attain Goals for Success

Thriving in the Las Vegas Real Estate Market - Seminar Notes

On December 5, 2007, I conducted a seminar with Matthew Hardy of REST - real estate software I use and highly recommend!  The seminar was entitled "How to Thrive in the Current Real Estate Market". 

If you are interested in the outline and links to resources and other materials - just go to the REST-Event link at www.CareerRealty.com - How To Thrive in the Current Real Estate Market.

Matthew and I reviewed key lessons and business applications of 4 excellent books:

• E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
• You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar by David Sandler
• Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller, Dave Jenks and Jay Papasan
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

We also detailed Seven Secrets to Thrive in Real Estate... a condensed version of an earlier post on the subject.

1. YOU Are the Creator of your Reality.
2. Educate yourself about the market and learn how to better present the current market story.
3. Get back to the basics NOW. 
4. Develop and implement an Action Management System.
5. Adopt a daily ritual to start your day in a positive mindset.
6. Have a daily activity plan, show up and work it.
7. Ask for help.  Get an accountability partner or hire a coach.

"Secret to Creating Your Future" Seminar

I highly recommend this upcoming seminar scheduled for Sat-Sun, November 3-4, at the Wingate Inn in Henderson.  My good friend and fellow coach Joel Smith and I attended the NLP Practitioner certification course conducted by the Tad James Company.  This two-day course will introduce you to some key principles and techniques of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and how to apply them in your life and business for immediate results.

Special 2 for 1 pricing available (just mention Jan or Joel referred you) - Seminar is $395 - sign up with someone else and get two registrations for the price of one.  Deeper discount for 3 or more people signing up at the same time. Call Ashley at 702.440.4823.

Download the event Flyer  -  SCYFflyerOct07.pdf

What to expect at the seminar...

• Identify and eliminate your personal blocks and replace them with effective and powerful strategies to change your life - Change who you are now into who you always wanted to be
• Change Your Financial capabilities for a more secure future
• Begin to do the things you dreamed of for a long time
• How to create the most respectful, loving, and nurturing relationship - Create what you want to HAVE
• Improve your family relationships -Make changes in your life quickly and easily
• Discover and identify with what you truly want in life

To enroll - Call 888-440-4823 - Mention Jan O'Brien or Joel Smith and receive 2 for 1 pricing.

Learn How to Blog - Next Blogging 101 Class (3 Hrs CE) Scheduled for Nov 5, 2007

Attention future Las Vegas Bloggers!  Kathryn Bovard  and I have scheduled our next "Real Estate Blogging 101" class for Monday, November 5th (10 am to 1 pm) at Equity Title Training Center.  The class is approved by the Nevada Real Estate Commission for 3 hours of Personal Development. 

You do not have to be a real estate agent to attend!  This class is an introduction to blogging for business and is open to anyone who wants to learn the business benefits of blogging .  By the end of the class you will have the knowledge and necessary steps to setup your free blog using www.wordpress.com.  We will also cover these topics in class...

o The State of the Internet – Stats – Trends – History
o How does Web 2.0/social networking impact the real estate industry?
o What is a Blog? Who Is Blogging? Why should I Blog?
o Legal Issues, Disclosures, Disclaimers, Privacy
o How to get started blogging. How & Where to Find Blogs
o Lead Generation and Business Applications

Bonus materials include two eBooks:

1. Wordpress Tutorial (Booklet and Video format) ($20 value)
2. Real Estate Agents Internet Resource Guide ($10 value) - A comprehensive guide to online Listing Tools, Blogging, and other Web 2.0 services, tools and technologies

For more information - Download : blog_class_flyernov07.pdf  or visit www.CareerRealty.com
Cost:  $45 in advance/ $55 at the door.