Center for REALTOR® Development

The National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) was formed in 1947 by nine African American Founders as a response to the denied access African American brokers were experiencing when it came to selling homes. With 75 years in existence, the association lives by five important pillars: 1) Civic and Faith-Based Engagement. 2) Women Invested In Real Estate — WIRE. 3) Diversity, Equity, Inclusion of Small Business. 4) Multigenerational Wealth. 5) Government and Policies. Our guest and President of NAREB, Lydia Pope, explains further why these five pillars have been foundational towards everlasting change in the community. [2:45] A bit about Lydia and her background in real estate. [4:40] The history behind why the NAREB was founded. [7:10] What are the five pillars of black ownership? [9:10] Homeownership has dropped for black homeowners. Why is that? [10:15] African Americans and blacks still face loan discrimination today. [11:50] As a broker, it's important that you be a champion for your clients in all areas of their home buying process, not just the physical house itself. [17:00] Women have been at a disadvantage when it comes to applying for loans. [20:35] NAREB has a program to educate real estate agents on all facets of the real estate industry, not just being a licensed agent. [23:15] How is NAREB thinking about multigenerational wealth? [27:30] It's important to educate our seniors so that they have programs to fall back on as they get older. As homes have repairs, seniors might not be as aware of how to fix these damages. [32:30] Lydia shares ways people can connect with their local community partners. [37:00] If people can't afford to be a homeowner, it hurts everyone in the community. [40:00] What are some of the different ways you can access capital? [44:50] If real estate agents don't know, then they are unable to inform and educate the community. [47:50] Everyone should be passionate about closing the wealth gap. Tweetables: "Women have challenges with loans. Actually, black women have one of the highest rates when it comes to loan declines and higher interest rates and loan pricing." — Lydia "Real estate is not about being a licensed real estate agent. There are more pieces to a real estate business. There are so many areas people can branch off to." — Lydia "The voices are being heard through America. It takes groups getting together. We all have one thing that we'd like to accomplish: homeownership and being in support of closing the wealth gap, especially when it comes to African American ownership" — Lydia Guest Links: Lydia Pope Nareb.com Nareb.com/profile/lpope/ 2021 State of Housing in Black America Additional Links: Microcourses found at Learning.REALTOR Crdpodcast.com Learning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/Monica.Neubauer Instagram Instagram.com/MonicaNeubauerSpeaks Additional Bio: Lydia Pope has been in the Real Estate Industry since 1995. She is Owner/President of E & D Realty & Investment Co, Inc. (www.edrealty1.com), E&D Realty Property Management Division, and E&D Construction Company. Some of her past and current accomplishments are 1st Vice President of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, Inc. (NAREB), Past President of the Women's Council of NAREB, Mt. Pleasant Advisory Board, Ohio Housing Finance Agency Committee, Cleveland Realtist®Association Past President & Chair, Cleveland/Akron Legislative Committee, NAACP Member and more.

This episode covers some of the great ways you can engage agents and consumers with the support of the brokerage. Every brokerage has its unique way of doing things, so it's important to really understand the culture of the organization you're in and the benefits you have access to. Chris Whitten breaks down his consumer-centric brokerage model that empowers his agents to be well-connected in the community. What do you need to know about joining a brokerage? Chris answers all of this and more! [6:30] How do you have both a customer and agent-centric approach? Chris knows you can have both. [7:45] In business, you have to have hedgehogs! Chris explains his analogy. [9:05] Chris has a giving back program for his office to help and support the community they serve. [13:50] How can you take the spotlight off of yourself on social media and shine it more on the people you serve? Chris offers an example. [17:20] Chris talks about another 'hedgehog' incentive he does within his business. He's taking advantage of the lack of inventory! [19:05] You have to understand fully what your brokerage is providing. [25:10] Because Chris spends his time in the community and building the relationships, agents do not need to shift through a lot of leads to get to one yes. [30:05] Being part of the community is really rewarding work. Yes, it's great you sold a house, but it's even better to know you are helping the charities around you. [32:25] How do you build better relationships? [39:00] Sounds simple, but you have to treat everybody like people. [39:40] People are buying you at the end of the day. They're hiring you, so what makes you interesting? [41:40] Chris's model that he's built is about being a REALTOR® for life for the family. [45:20] How does Chris encourage his agents and helps them with their goals? [47:55] Find your why, even if it's not real estate related! Tweetables: "Every listing in our office for ten years now has had a professional photoshoot and a video guided tour." — Chris "I love real estate because it's a vehicle to pay your bills, but also do what you're passionate about and do good. I am doing a lot of my non-profit work through my real estate business and both are thriving." — Chris "The line between agent and customer is --- we're all people!" — Chris "Subtle branding. A lot of REALTORS® don't understand that. You want customers to feel warm and fuzzy." — Chris Guest Links: Chris Whitten Premeerrealestate.com Premeerrealestate.com/agents/chris-whitten Additional Links: 036: Brokerage Basics and Beyond with Keith Davis Microcourses found at Learning.REALTOR Crdpodcast.com Learning.Realtor for NAR's Center for REALTOR® Development, home to NAR's Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/Monica.Neubauer Instagram Instagram.com/MonicaNeubauerSpeaks Additional Bio: Chris Whitten is the 2021 Rhode Island Realtor of the Year he has been active in Rhode Island leadership for many years – He has Been on the local and State Boards of Directors and was the MLS president for 2019 and 2020. He has awards in Real estate and from his community. You will hear more about his work in the community and his background as a Radio Personality. He is the owner and broker for Premeer Real Estate in Smithfield, RI and 2 offices in Massachusetts.

We all know that social media can be a time-wasting black hole. We also know it can be an amazing tool to connect with loved ones, friends, and potential clients. How do you balance both without feeling overwhelmed? Today's guest, Harrison Beacher knows how to get the most out of your social media presence, without the overwhelm! In this episode, he offers strategies to create a comprehensive social media plan so that you can build connections with intention. [1:30] A little bit about Harrison and his background in real estate. [5:00] What social media platform should you choose? [8:20] Harrison shares some of his favorite ways to optimize social media. [8:40] What was the last thing that made you stop scrolling? What kind of content do you like to consume? [10:30] Consider taking a quick 101 photography class to better understand what makes a good picture. [11:20] Should you have people in your photos or should it be a selfie? [14:40] How do we increase the engagement we currently have on Instagram? Hashtags! [19:10] Remember, we need to have an abundance mindset. Engage with other people using your hashtag. [24:50] It's okay to make mistakes or have typos. Harrison sometimes goes back to reword things in a better way. It's just important to be intentional with the content you're sharing. [30:50] Public posts, whether business or otherwise, should be welcoming and open to everyone. [35:35] Are you struggling to create a social media plan? Harrison has some tips for you! [41:35] What topics can you/should you talk about as a REALTOR®? [45:15] With your photos, use it as an opportunity to tell a story. People do read the descriptions! [48:05] When you become a local expert, there's so much opportunity available to you. [48:40] Instead of thinking about social media as a sales tool, think of it as a community-building tool. [50:15] Harrison talks about the importance of a good mindset and why it's key to your success. [54:25] Create good routines and systems, and those will carry you forward during the days you feel slow or down. Tweetables: "It's okay to rip off and duplicate some of the best practices other people have. Take the idea or concept and create something similar." — Harrison "The mindset we need to have to help consumers and grow our businesses is an abundance mindset. When we connect, we build community." — Harrison "Social media is free to tag that location, be intentional about the story you tell, and attract more people to that story. It lets the people who live there be reminded of you." — Harrison Guest Links: Harrison Beacher Coalitionpg.com Linktr.ee/hlbeach Instagram Additional Links: Microcourses found at Learning.REALTOR Crdpodcast.com Onlinelearning.realtor for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/Monica.Neubauer Instagram Instagram.com/MonicaNeubauerSpeaks Guest Bio: A native Washingtonian and washed up D1 college football player, Harrison Beacher is a Managing Partner of the Coalition Properties group, serving the entire DC metro area Affiliated with KW Capital Properties. Harrison was honored by the National Association of REALTORS® and included in REALTOR® Magazine's 30 under 30 Class of 2016. Harrison currently serves as 2022 president for the Greater Capital Area Association of REALTORS® (GCAAR), and also serves as an at-large director for the DC Association of REALTORS® (DCAR). Harrison serves as a 2022 Chair for the Broker engagement council and serves as a National NAR Director. A retired DJ, Harrison loves making playlists for his team events, sharing funny memes & Tik-toks, and traveling to places with delicious food, drinks, great music, nightlife, warm weather & culture. Harrison is a national speaker and coach on the topics of social media optimization, mindset, Diversity, and inclusion

Gary Rogers knows a thing or two about networking. The saying might be overdone but it is true: Your network is your net worth. But, did you know a lot of REALTORS® do networking the wrong way? Instead of trying to spin your wheels, here's how you can leverage agent-to-agent referrals that create a collaborative relationship with you and your colleagues and not a competitive one. The ripple effects are immense. Gary shares his expert tips in this month's episode! [1:30] Gary Rogers is very intentional in networking with the goal of giving and receiving referrals. How do you become a great resource? Gary has some advice for you. [3:55] Gary shares his overview process for finding agents and why referrals are important to him. [4:40] He explains further on referrals as a true business source and shares some of his own experiences. [7:20] How do we meet or find these agents? Gary shares some tips on how to be an agent someone wants to refer. [11:40] When considering someone for a referral, what kind of criteria do you look for? Gary shares his insights. [13:21] Taking the time to interview the client, knowing what's important to them; always works in matching them with the right agent. [16:15] In rural areas where there are not a lot of agents, what are some of the ways to get good referrals? Gary shares more tips. [19:50] Getting the right agent with the right expertise comes in handy. It sets the right expectations from both the agent and the client. [20:55] Gary is currently working on a project for residential agents wanting to move into commercial and shares a sneak peek of what's in store with that. [21:35] Referrals don't need to be from across the country. Gary also talks about how to get great local referral opportunities. [35:15] Has Gary ever been in a situation where he made a bad fit? What did he do in that situation? [39:10] Gary talks about how early-career agents should be reaching out to get referrals and why it is very important. [42:55] How can you market yourself and get your name out there? Gary tells his story of traveling for classes and meeting agents in that way. [46:10] Making the effort to go to the sources goes a long way in marketing yourself. There's a two-way street in referrals. [47:05] Gary shares more tips on how we market ourselves. What should you put on your website to attract your market? [52:25] Gary also talks about business cards and how we can make use of them more effectively when we network. [57:30] Sending referrals vs drawing more income. Gary closes the episode sharing his key principles. Tweetables: "What do we look for when we network or look for an agent? We're looking for some commonality, either between us or more importantly between the receiving agent and the client." — Gary "Even if you're an introvert, you become an extrovert the minute you put your REALTOR® hat on." — Gary "If you really do think how we're supposed to help each other, what better way than drive referrals back and forth." — Gary "Focusing on sending out referrals pays off quicker and is more sure because you have a trusted audience." — Gary Guest Links: Gary Rogers Refergary.com Inrealtygroup.com LinkedIn Examples of Social Media for Agents: Tiktok.com/@itsthatrealestatechick Tiktok.com/@amybartoncotney Instagram.com/sweethomeauburnal Refercyndee.com: (Linktr.ee/cyndeehaydon) Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/Monica.Neubauer Instagram Instagram.com/MonicaNeubauerSpeaks Guest Bio: Gary Rogers has been a REALTOR® for over 30 years. During that time, he has served in various roles in the association, including State President, NAR RVP, and NAR Director. In 2018, he chaired the Meeting and Conference Committee. He is currently serving as a Director of the REALTOR® Relief Foundation, 2021 NAR Director, and will be the Chair of the 2022 NAR Leadership Academy. He was the 2005 REALTOR® of the Year for his state and has been awarded Distinguished Service awards by both his local board, GBAR, as well as the Massachusetts Association of REALTORS®. Gary is the broker-owner of RE/MAX On The Charles in Waltham Massachusetts

As many of us started to incorporate technology into our real estate business to make things easier and more automated, something else started to drop by the wayside: relationships. Throw the pandemic into the mix, where it was highly discouraged to be face-to-face with our customers, and we are now faced with a big need in the market for personable and friendly real estate agents that can connect with clients on a deep level. Ali Whitley is here to help shed some light on how you can improve your relationships without doing a complete rehaul of how your business operates. It's not as complicated as you might think! [3:45] Why is it so important to have a consultation with your client before you walk them through different houses? [6:50] If you don't take the time to get to know your clients, their why's and motivations, then what are you really doing? [7:20] It's easy to just get into the habit of sending a text, but that doesn't lead to connection. [15:25] A good real estate agent is the source for a lot of their clients. To become a source, you must be seen as trustworthy. [15:55] When does it make sense to talk about money? Monica offers a handy script. [19:50] If you're going to be meeting with buyers or sellers, you really want to set up several meetings. [21:10] How does Ali set the expectation with her clients when she does a contract consultation? [29:35] Understanding the buyer/seller's expectations and making sure that they're reflective of what the market is willing to pay. [37:00] A lot of clients today are educated. They are doing their own research, but sometimes that research is missing a few pieces. This is a great opportunity for a REALTOR® to step in. [40:00] Communicating your value as a real estate agent [42:35] Don't be afraid to shine and show your value through storytelling! Ali shares how. [47:45] At the end of the day, it's about empowering your client to make the best decision for them. Real estate agents add immense value by walking clients through a very stressful and emotionally overwhelming process. Tweetables: "If a computer can do it, then the computer will do it before long. We need to focus on what the human element is." — Monica "We need to know if we're able to help them. If their expectations are not accurate for what the market is willing to bear, then we need to address that up front." — Ali "If the agent doesn't know their value, how can they present that to anybody else?" — Ali Guest Links: Ali Whitley AliWhitley.com LinkedIn Additional Links: Crdpodcast.com Onlinelearning.realtor for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/Monica.Neubauer Instagram Instagram.com/MonicaNeubauerSpeaks Additional Bio: Ali Whitley is a Residential Real Estate Agent and Director of Education at RE/MAX Crossroads in Akron, Ohio. In addition to serving buyer and seller clients, Ali is passionate about professional development and education. She enjoys sharing her love of knowledge with fellow agents as an educator and mentor and as an instructor of REBAC and REBI Designations and Certifications. A REALTOR® for 24 years, Ali has been active in local, state, and national associations, having served as an NAR Director and member of the Commitment to Excellence committee, a longtime Director and current Treasurer-Elect at Ohio REALTORS® and President of her local association in 2012. She was honored as Akron Area Board of REALTORS® REALTOR® of the Year and as a past "Woman of Note" by Crain's Cleveland Business.

What does a good real estate team look like? The answer can be very varied and diverse, and it's also very individual to your specific needs. However, our guest has identified some key principles on when it makes sense to move forward with a team based on your unique situation. Brandon Martens is the Team Lead for The InRealty Group of Hegg REALTORS®. He is passionate about leading his team with kindness and drive and often speaks on these topics. This episode focuses on what real estate agents should look for when joining a team, some of the benefits of joining a team, and tips for starting your own team! [3:35] Brandon has put his team within another brokerage firm. He shares some of the benefits of doing it this way. [6:20] When does it make sense to join a team vs. being on your own? [8:00] What should agents be looking for before they join a team? [10:00] Does it make sense for more experienced real estate agents to join a team or is this a better move for a newbie? [14:45] Brandon shares some of his responsibilities as a team lead and how he helps support his staff. [21:20] How does financial compensation work when you're a part of a team? [22:15] No matter what deal you get yourself involved in, it has to be a win-win for everybody. [25:45] Brandon breaks down his team and how each member plays a critical role within the company. [29:15] If you want a good team, you have to think about everyone involved and actively create win-win situations for everyone. [32:45] Brandon talks about the importance of having team events for your company. [37:25] Monica shares why she loves Brandon, how he educates others, and his work ethic. [41:35] Brandon shares some of his tips on how to start a successful team. [44:45] Don't bring someone on if they don't have good morals or ethics. You have to hire based on character. [47:25] Brandon shares his final takeaway. Tweetables: "Don't base joining a team based on leads. Leads are what they are. You're still going to be spinning your wheels qualifying leads." — Brandon "It's really hard to have a good relationship and shake someone's hand with a fist. If your hand is wrapped around the money as a team leader or an agent, you're never going to be a good fit." — Brandon "In regards to bringing people on your team, you cannot hire anything except for character. You have to hire based on character. You can train any skill you need to." — Brandon Guest Links: Brandon Martens Inrealtygroup.com LinkedIn Additional Links: CRD's Working with Teams in Real Estate | Podcast Episode 11 Crdpodcast.com Onlinelearning.realtor for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/Monica.Neubauer Instagram Instagram.com/MonicaNeubauerSpeaks Additional Bio: Brandon Martens: When he isn't speaking, Brandon is the team lead of InRealty Group of Hegg REALTORS® and one of the top-selling REALTORS® in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota real estate market. He is the President Elect for the South Dakota REALTORS®. His passion for "Leaving Real Estate Better Than He Found It" shows up in his daily routine and through his leadership. It extends beyond his own team though in his national and local focus on the true rights of homeownership through advocacy. He continues to enjoy working daily with clients and in his community.

Do you have a date on your calendar to start business planning for 2022? Agents with a plan are more likely to reach their financial goals than those who "wing it." However, there can be a lot of moving pieces involved before you can get a clear picture of what to focus on first. Our guest, Brent Lancaster, is not only knowledgeable in real estate, but he loves to educate agents on the business of real estate. This episode focuses on fun and practical ways to plan for your business in 2022 and highlights some of the important strategies to consider when balancing life and work. [2:00] A little bit about Brent and his experience in real estate. [4:50] Whenever you Google "business plan," the search results show something very complex and overwhelming. [5:25] If you're a single agent and not part of a big team, Brent shares what you need to focus on first. [13:00] If you want to be number one in your industry, there's going to be a cost. What are your priorities? [18:50] Focusing on what you can control. [19:35] What kind of data or information should an agent gather to fully flesh out their business plan? [25:20] Marketing and money go together. Take an in-depth look at what you're spending on, and really assess if it's working or not. [30:25] Brent shares ways to make a business planning session fun. [35:40] If you have a team, ask them what their personal financial goals are. You have to find the motivation behind why your team does what they do. [39:50] Whenever you hit a milestone, be sure to celebrate your wins with the team. These positive moments really drive up motivation, productivity, and morale! [45:00] Brent shares why you should attend real estate conferences (and sales conferences) outside of your market. [47:10] Monica shares some additional educational resources agents can leverage in their business. [49:35] Monica has a new book out! Link in the show notes. [51:15] How do you plan for both business and life? [55:35] Brent's biggest tip? Stop telling your clients to call you "anytime"! You need some peace of mind. Tweetables: "When you're looking at planning in 2022, set aside some money. How much money do you want to spend on an annual basis on marketing? Put a number on it." — Brent "When you find out what drives people, later down the road, it helps you as a team leader to refocus them; to help them remember what their goal was." — Brent "I prefer work/life harmony. You have total permission to love what you do and to work hard at it." — Brent Guest Links: Brent Lancaster BobBrooks.com Additional Links: Microcourses found at Learning.REALTOR Crdpodcast.com Onlinelearning.realtor for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's book: Monicaneubauer.com/books/straight-talk-for-real-estate-success/ Guest Bio: Brent Lancaster combines his love of the business of real estate with his passion for education. As president/CEO of one of the nation's oldest real estate schools, BobBrooks.com, he offers a variety of solutions to the challenges agents face in today's real estate environment. In 2003, Brent developed his first online course and has spent every year since continually searching for innovative ways to bring quality and consistency to every agent using multiple delivery formats. Today, he continues to teach classroom instruction but has also transformed the traditional brick-and-mortar classroom into a multimedia educational experience. Brent is also the broker/owner of his own real estate firm, Brent Lancaster & Associates. He lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with his wife, Laura, his two children, Leyton and Nate, and Lilly the office dog.

Are you a REALTOR® who would consider themselves a leader? The NAR's Leadership Academy provides leadership training and networking opportunities for all levels. In this episode, Shannon Buss joins Monica to talk about leadership, professionalism, and the benefits of the leadership academies. They discuss how we can lean into leadership and professionalism in the industry, how we lead as real estate agents, and how we can improve leadership skills to benefit our businesses, our client experiences, community position, and industry strength. [3:35] Why the Leadership Academy is offered at all levels, and what benefit it has for agents in this program. [7:48] Every single job in NAR is critical to what we do in NAR; every job in the association is just as important. [9:29] The importance of leaning into the current job or level, and how exposure to new ways of thinking can help you improve yourself and how you live your life. [12:57] Shannon shares some of what she learned during her time in the Leadership Academy and how it impacted her life, especially outside of real estate. [15:40] Professionalism is getting somewhere in your career and having fun while doing it. [17:19] Monica and Shannon talk about what happens on the local level for Leadership Academies. [21:05] There are many volunteer leadership opportunities in real estate, and they offer several benefits for agents who step into those roles. [28:30] Shannon shares what agents can do to level up their professionalism in consumers' eyes. [32:32] Networking is incredibly valuable, not only for REALTORS®, but for clients. [33:30] Professionalism is also about our behavior, tone, and body language. [38:40] When it comes to problem-solving, doing anything proactively to prevent a problem is the most effective problem solving. [42:05] As an agent, you lead where you stand. You are leading when you show up to show a house or show up to a meeting at your brokerage. You may not call it leadership, but that's what leadership looks like. [45:45] Pay attention to who the helpers are, and lean into them for advice. [48:00] Shannon's final word for listeners. Tweetables: "It was a turning point in my leadership path because it was like a weight off my shoulders. I can just do this job right in front of me and do it 100%, and I'm making a big difference." — Shannon "It taught me how to be a better human being really, even outside of real estate." — Shannon "Good leadership should be enjoyable. The best leaders do have fun and have a relaxed nature. They're fun and they're comfortable." — Monica "Meet people where they are, not where you want them to be. That's the biggest piece." — Shannon Guest Links: ShannonBuss.com Leadership Academy: nar.realtor/about-nar/leadership-and-staff/leadership-academy https://www.onlinelearning.realtor/A/Product/Details/5676/realtors%C2%AE-excelling-in-association-leadership-real-/ nar.realtor/education/leadership-development Additional Links: Crdpodcast.com onlinelearning.realtor for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/Monica.Neubauer Instagram Instagram.com/MonicaNeubauerSpeaks Additional Bio: Our guest today, Shannon Buss, has been leading in the association at all levels and in her community for years. She is the 2020 & 2019 Vice Chair for the Leadership Academy Advisory Group. She has been on many national committees even before she became a NAR Leadership Academy Graduate in 2014. She is very active with the Women's Council of REALTORS®, serving in leadership roles at the state and national levels. She was the 2020 President, Rhode Island Association of REALTORS® and among her many awards, she was inducted into the REBAC Hall of Fame in 2012. She sells real estate in Rhode Island and is an instructor for many NAR courses.

Real estate is happening all over the world, whether we are following other markets or not. When we connect with agents from other countries, they can help us understand culture and client expectations, which in turn helps us successfully conduct business globally. This episode is all about the benefits of being an International REALTOR® Member (IRM). Our guests Tarun Bhatia and Ana Beatriz Muñoz Ruiz join Monica to share their experience as IRMs, some of the different real estate practices and traditions in their respective countries, as well as their favorite membership benefits. There are several important links mentioned in this episode — please make sure to visit the "Guest Links" section for all resources discussed in this episode. [3:00] NAR's international department helps agents from around the world learn different ways to practice real estate, and provides networking opportunities. [4:30] Tarun introduces himself and his work in India. [6:30] Anna introduces herself and her work in Mexico. [9:52] Indians invested almost 7.8 billion dollars in the U.S. in 2017; Indians living in India are investing in the U.S. real estate market, and Indians living in the U.S. are investing in the Indian real estate market. [13:07] The REALTOR® brand is still a growing thing in India — there is a difference between a REALTOR® and a real estate agent. [16:00] Many people who go to visit Cancun decide to live there as well; Ana joined NAR to connect with buyers and brokers to be more comfortable working with other people in the organization. [20:29] The top five foreign buyers in the U.S. are Canada, Mexico, China, India, and the UK, but these only account for a third of all buyers in the U.S. [22:00] Vastu Shastra is an interesting part of the real estate culture in India that comes over when Indians invest in U.S. real estate. [26:47] Another difference between the U.S. and India is how they use (or don't use) a CRM or MLS. [29:02] Culturally, personal relationships come before business relationships in Mexico. They also have legal rules where the bank is involved with foreign buyers as an extra layer in the process. [33:05] In both Mexico and India, personal relationships matter the most. [36:30] Ana shares tips for U.S. agents and buyers for how to buy real estate in Mexico — please visit the links below for the CIPS landing sites, which have information on finding the right agent in Mexico. [41:35] Many Indians are investing in the U.S. to bring back into the country of India, and there are a lot of business opportunities as people try to make it big between India and the U.S. [44:30] Tarun talks about how Indian laws help protect people during transactions, as well as the real estate laws that restrict who can buy property. [47:43] Ana and Tarun share some of the many benefits of being an International NAR member. Tweetables: "NAR U.S. has been around for more than 100 years, so they have perfected the art of training education courses, which we are still trying to learn in India. We get access to your training programs and a number of valuable business tools." — Tarun "Relationships are still crucial in both markets. Knowing the people so you can connect to find what you need is still crucial." — Monica "Most importantly, the broker should be someone who has experience, knows the market, and is ethical. I think that's the most important." — Ana "It is not only about learning and networking with REALTORS® in the U.S., it's also about telling your clients back in India that you are open for business throughout the world." — Tarun Guest Links: For the Global Real Estate Summit: Nar.realtor/videos/2021-nar-real-estate-forecast-summit-global-update Youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ8nxcZniP63CYknxxweCc2Y-y8UA4Y5i For more information on certification in Mexico, visit: CIPS Designation Page Nar.realtor/education/designations-and-certifications/cips-designation To find a reputable agent in Mexico, Search for a CIPS Designee Agent Nar.realtor/designations-and-certifications/cips-designation/cips-search To learn more about the Indian tradition of Vastu Shastra, the design philosophy En.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vastu_shastra Additional Links: Crdpodcast.com Onlinelearning.realtor for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/Monica.Neubauer Instagram Instagram.com/MonicaNeubauerSpeaks Additional Bio: Ana Beatriz Muñoz Ruiz [email protected] Ana Beatriz Muñoz Ruiz is a broker in Cancún, Mexico. She has a communications degree from UNUM, in Mexico City. She focuses on residential beach properties and is a strong promoter of the market-to-market program. With over 20 years of experience and a solid reputation, she has a proven track record in the real estate industry and a deep understanding of the market i

The collapse of the Champlain Towers has been a mysterious and important event in the real estate world, especially for the families deeply affected by the tragedy. It brought to light some of the essential things to note for environmentally-challenged properties; all buildings do degrade and are affected by the elements of nature. Our guest, Linda Olson is a REALTOR® and environment consultant in Florida. This episode focuses on how we can best advise our clients when they are purchasing condominium properties or properties in environmentally challenged areas. What can the rest of us learn from the tragedy in Surfside? [2:55] Linda's background and what she does today as an environmentalist and REALTOR®. [5:52] Building codes in Florida and the state's rules and regulations. [11:13] Regulations differ from state to state, and even between the state and local levels. Most areas leave it up to the local governments to decide building codes, etc. [15:00] Causes that contributed to the Champlain Tower collapse, and environmental factors that came into play specifically due to location. [25:50] The difference in the inspection process between residential real estate and condo buildings. [28:50] What REALTORS® can do to help their clients when they are purchasing a unit in a condo. [33:13] A "condo checklist" that you could use with your clients so they have an idea of what types of things to check out before buying a property. [38:12] Monica shares some information from Robert Norlund about the physical and financial health of a building and its homeowner's association, and a few of his tips for REALTORS®. [42:05] Predictability in the natural wear and tear and degradation of properties and the life expectancy of buildings, and how appraisers use this when valuing a property. [46:45] Upkeep and maintenance of apartments compared to a condo or townhouse [49:20] REALTORS®' responsibility to educate our sellers and our buyers, to act as professionals, and to advise our clients of the concerns to be aware of, and what they should consider prior to closing on a property. Tweetables: "Even if there are building codes, when inspections are done by the local government, they are only looking to make sure that the building code standards have been met at a minimum. They don't inspect the quality of the work." — Linda "I think it's part of our responsibility as REALTORS® to be able to advise our clients as to things that may affect them before they purchase a property. If you don't take the time to learn how it can affect it, you don't have any advice or assistance that you can give your clients." — Linda "Deferred maintenance is a big deal. If we don't take care of things when they come up and replace them when appropriate, the building will go back to the Earth." — Monica Guest Links: Linda Olson EducatorLinda.com Robert Nordlund Reservestudy.com NPR Article Npr.org/2021/07/19/1016940192/why-steady-low-condo-fees-should-… Additional Links: Crdpodcast.com Onlinelearning.realtor for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates Questions? Comments? Email us at [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com Additional Bio: Linda Olson, REALTOR®, GREEN is with D. Basile Real Estate, LLC in Melbourne, Florida. Linda specializes in all non-residential property types, especially vacant land. Linda brings a unique perspective to the real estate field as she also has 20 plus years of experience as an environmental consultant. Linda uses this experience to assist Owners and Buyers regarding the intricacies of developing/optimizing/selling and buying environmentally challenged property. Linda also uses this expertise to assist Landlords and Tenants with property leasing. During both Linda's environmental and real estate careers, for more than 10 years, she was actively involved with the local Home Builders and Contractors Association. The additional knowledge that she gained from this association and the contacts she has with builders, remodelers, and distributors of products gives her unique information and insight into "green" building techniques for improving a home's energy efficiency. Using both careers, since 2010, Linda has authored and teaches courses that have been approved by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation for continuing education for REALTORS®. Linda has been a Florida REALTORS® Faculty Member since 2013. Since 2016, Linda has been an approved instructor with the Georgia Association of REALTORS® through their Partners in Education Program and an approved provider and instructor through the Tennessee Real Estate Commission. The classes that Linda has authored and teaches in Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee are centered on environmental concerns, green/energy efficiency, commercial real estate, the development process, residential construction and nego

In property management, service animals, emotional support animals, and pets, in general, are big considerations that will come up for potential tenants. As REALTORS®, property managers, and landlords, it's important to know how to do things right to help honor those tenants who really do need the help that comes from having a service or emotional support animal. Cynthia DeLuca is on this episode to share her expertise and knowledge on how service and emotional support animals are protected under federal law. She also shares some best practices on questions you can ask and how to put a policy in place so you have consistency among all potential tenants and situations. [3:35] - In 2020, many more people got pets that may be service or emotional support animals. In the real estate community, there are protections in place for these animals and clients who have them [6:45] - Cynthia and Monica discuss how the Americans with Disability Act protects service animals and what qualifies as a service animal [9:35] - This comes into play for REALTORS® because a potential tenant cannot just claim that their pet is a service animal and trained; they must be trained for the disability [15:18] - Cynthia and Monica discuss other things that are common with service animals but are not required, and how regulations can differ by state [18:05] - Cynthia and Monica discuss the Fair Housing Act, how it protects emotional support animals, and the specificity to one industry [20:26] - Cynthia's work with HUD helped to create an order under the Fair Housing Act that clarifies how they feel the law should be applied, giving landlords more freedom to discern what they will allow for their properties [24:10] - The FHA defines an emotional support animal as an animal that provides emotional support that alleviates one or more identified symptoms or effects for a person's disability [28:25] - Service animal and emotional support animal protections and exemptions [30:57] - Cynthia discusses how landlords, property managers, and REALTORS® can handle situations with potential tenants who have a service or emotional support animal, including what questions to ask to find out if they are covered under the ADA [33:38] - She also shares different questions to ask to see if it falls under the Fair Housing Act [35:30] - If the animal isn't covered under the ADA or the FHA, you would treat that animal as a pet. Once the animal is protected under federal law, property managers and REALTORS® must modify their existing rules to allow the animal [43:15] - Once an assistance animal is allowed to live in the residence, they don't necessarily get a free pass to exist however they want [45:35] - Cynthia talks about the importance of having these guidelines in writing: the 2 questions under the ADA, the 2 questions under the FHA, and then the documentation you would request if it's not obvious [49:20] - Remember to always keep the hierarchy of law in mind. The federal law will overrule any state or local ordinances Guest Links: The High Heels Landlord: A step-by-step guide for women to successful real estate investing, by Cynthia DeLuca Fill'er Up: The High Heels Landlord's Guide to Filling Your Rental Property, by Cynthia DeLuca Hud.gov/sites/dfiles/PA/documents/HUDAsstAnimalNC1-28-2020.pdf cynthiadeluca.com Additional Links: Crdpodcast.com Onlinelearning.realtor for NAR's Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Guest Bio: Cynthia began her real estate career in 1999 and quickly became a top producer. A few years later, she decided to open her own real estate company, which grew to the largest independent real estate company in Central Florida. In 2016, Cynthia sold her company, which consisted of 6 offices and over 135 members on her team to one of the nation's top 350 Real Estate companies. After selling her real estate brokerage, Cynthia decided to focus her career on helping other REALTORS® reach a higher potential. An instructor since 2001, she has been there, done that, walks the talk, and loves to share her experiences with others so they can excel in their career. Cynthia's love of real estate goes beyond her professional career. Cynthia purchased her first rental property almost 20 years ago and as the saying goes, the rest is history. She now manages a portfolio of rental properties together with her husband. After being asked a multitude of times how she got started, Cynthia wrote a book called The High Heels Landlord, available on Amazon. Her second book, released in late 2018, named Fill'er Up, is also available on Amazon. Cynthia has been featured in both Florida REALTOR® Magazine and the National REALTOR® Magazine. She has received the prestigious Florida REALTORS®'s Educator of the Year award along with the Orlando Regional REALTORS® Association's Educator of the Year award. Cynthia's passion is property management and investment properties. In her spare time, she collects

Sustainability is an evolving topic in our culture and in many industries, and real estate is no exception! In this episode, expert Melisa Camp joins Monica to discuss sustainability inside our homes, as well as in the construction of new homes. They talk about new ways to take care of the resources we have, the opportunities in the industry, and how to tend to our health and finances on this journey. Sustainable products are much more accessible and affordable than they have been previously. As we've all spent so much time in our houses during this pandemic, Melisa and her family have looked into ways to make a healthier home. Air quality can be improved by natural ventilation, air filters (MERV 14 or higher or a HEPA filter), and air cleaning (usually a portable device). Many utility companies offer an energy audit, which is a great place to start. Some other easy fixes anyone can do are weather stripping, sealing your ductwork, and foam air sealing. A tankless water heater is another good option to conserve water and energy if that's something you're looking to replace. Plants are another great way to improve your air quality! For listeners with families, there are several ways you can get your children and your family involved in making more sustainable choices. Melisa shares some things that she has done including different school initiatives, contests, and recycling crayons and sneakers. Finding ways to involve the children is a great way to make sustainability part of their lifestyle. Melisa talks about "upcycling" and some of the things she has done recently to minimize waste in her house. In addition to environmental waste, there is also digital waste! Our digital activities take energy and resources, and it's not something we tend to think about on a day-to-day basis. There is a lot happening in the solar industry right now. Solar power is a renewable, clean source of energy. Melisa shares her experience with solar power on a house she built last year; because the tenant doesn't use that much energy, it's actually a net-positive home. If you use solar power that's connected to the grid, your community benefits from any energy you don't use. If you're off-grid, your extra energy goes into a battery to be used at a later time. If you have the capital, Melisa suggests purchasing or financing solar panels, rather than leasing them. One thing to note as an agent when it comes time for the appraisal — make sure you use the green and energy-efficient addendum. The appraisal process is extremely important in getting a good value. As the REALTOR®, you need to be a good communicator, and that starts with contacting the lender so you can get a competent solar appraiser. Whether you're a listing agent or a buyer's agent, take the lockbox off the house so the appraiser has to call you before going out, and you can vet their experience. For listing agents, collect any information about modifications or efficiencies early and often so you can have a more successful transaction for your client. Green housing differs from region to region. For agents in different areas, you should look into what incentives might be available in your market, as well as what energy options are most efficient in your area. Some places are better for solar power, and other places may be better for wind power. The construction industry is helping to eliminate waste and inefficiency. They continue to get more efficient as they are learning, and building codes continue to raise the bar. Melisa talks about what some custom builders do with their waste by donating what they can from old properties, as well as including healthy features, like the sound in a space and natural lighting. It takes building to the next level with a focus on health. Sustainability and climate restoration are what Melisa has devoted her life's work to. All REALTORS® should take NAR's GREEN Designation coursework — it will change the way you do business with your clients. Our future is up to us taking action today, and it starts with small changes and educating ourselves. Tweetables: "That's the biggest advice I would give to anybody, is just start. You don't have to do it all right now, just find some low-hanging fruit." — Melisa Camp "The kids are my why — why do I care about all of this? Because I care about leaving the place better than I found it for the future generations." — Melisa Camp "You have to balance what you need, what you can afford, what's available, and what's your lifestyle." — Monica Guest Links: Thecrayoninitiative.org Gotsneakers.com Pvvalue.com WellCertified.com Additional Links: Crdpodcast.com Onlinelearning.realtor for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/Monica.Neubauer Instagram Instagram.com/MonicaNeubauerSpe

In the real estate industry, we always need to be aware of leveling up our financial situation. In this episode, Rich Arzaga joins Monica to talk about all things financial wellness. Rich shares information about licensing, credentials, and how financial planners get paid, as well as some things to look out for when choosing a financial planner. They also discuss different investment platforms and insurance options. This episode is packed full of great information for any REALTOR®, whether you already have a financial plan or are just getting started. The title "financial advisor" is a broad term — not everyone you hear about being a financial advisor has the same license or credentials. If you are seeking out a financial planner for your financial situation, make sure you look for someone who is licensed and credentialed. These people are licensed in giving advice or offering different investment options. Rich shares some of the different license numbers, and what goes into being able to earn each license. To find the right financial planner for you, ask the questions about what licenses they have and what that means, as well as what credentials they hold. The CFP® (CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM Practitioner) designation is going to easily set financial planners apart from one another. Financial planners get paid in a few different ways. When you pay a fee for service, the financial planner is creating a plan for you, but not managing the money or offering insurance products. As you get to a higher level of need, many advisors fall off and you may need to find a different advisor who is certified to handle more advanced planning like taxes, stocks, investment real estate, etc. A more advanced advisor can help to mediate conversations between other professionals that handle specific aspects of financial planning. Beyond financial planning, there is asset management. These advisors get paid either on commission or a fee. In addition to license and area of expertise, some other things Rich recommends when trying to find the right financial advisor is chemistry — you want to be able to build trust and make a connection with them. If you're paying someone, you want to trust that you can follow the advice they give you, much like a trusted REALTOR®! Another thing to consider is the company; some companies are very formulaic. Because everyone's situation is different, it's hard to put people in a formula that is true to their intentions. If you're able to work with an independent advisor, that will give you a better shot at more individualized planning. A frustration for REALTORS® can be that some financial planners don't specialize in investment real estate, and aren't sure how to treat directly-held real estate. Rich became a financial advisor because he was passionate about real estate and now teaches financial planners how to help clients with their real estate questions. If you're looking for someone who can help with real estate, look for an advisor who specializes in cash-flow-based planning. Cash-flow-based planners can integrate directly-held real estate to be part of your financial plan. There are several independent investment opportunities as well. About 17% of the population are self-investors. Rich talks about some of the different platforms available for anyone who wants to dip their toe in the water of investment. Platforms like Robinhood, Schwab, TDAmeritrade, and Fidelity all offer something a little different for whatever level of investment you are at. It's never too early or too late to start investing, and we are fortunate to have many options! Rich shares some new information around health care that has come about from the American Rescue Act. Regarding life insurance, don't be afraid to explore this, especially if you have people depending on you. Term life insurance will do for most and there is more flexibility in companies, but if you are going to do cash value, do your research to make sure the company is strong. Some other insurance options are long-term care and disability insurance. As people get older, one of the biggest risks they face in the balance of their financial life is the need for long-term care and the expense that comes with that. Rich shares some calculations based on the trends for long-term care, the overview of the risk for the family. Disability insurance is quite pricey, but the question for every REALTOR® to ask themselves is if you became disabled today, would you be short in your financial plan or would you be okay? As you are shopping for disability insurance, get as long as your plan requires, or you need; if you can't afford that due to cost, give yourself at least two years to be able to get your situation under control. The NAR's Center for Financial Wellness is a great program and resource for financial literacy for REALTORS®. The nice thing about this resource is that it is industry-specific, not just general financial planning. It's also free! Tweetable

Center for REALTOR® Development 056: Residential Real Estate Disclosures with Bruce Aydt While laws on this topic vary from state to state, good disclosure by the seller helps everyone involved in the real estate transaction. In this episode, guest Bruce Aydt joins Monica to talk all things disclosure. They discuss what should or should not be disclosed when it comes to current property status, past repairs, psychologically stigmatized properties, and work done without permit. This episode is full of risk management information that REALTORS® can use to help their clients. The purpose of disclosure laws is to ensure that the buyer knows everything that the seller knows about the property. It is also a protection to sellers, as long as they are honest in their disclosure, because they will minimize their risk of legal ramifications later. As a seller, if you're wondering whether you should disclose something, then you should probably disclose it. A good general guideline for what to disclose is that if the issue or condition of the property affects the desirability or value of the property, then it is something that needs to be disclosed. The contract from state to state or area to area will help guide sellers. When it comes to past repairs, Bruce's general rule for risk management is to disclose the history of all major repairs, including anything significant in terms of repairs or replacements. If it's not disclosed, this could put the seller in a position where they think something is fixed but it isn't really fixed. When preparing a seller disclosure statement, it is important to disclose in very specific terms. Just like any work done to our cars, try to keep track of any receipts or paperwork for any work done on the property. Monica and Bruce discuss the concept of "should have known" — it exists in some states, but not in others. If the seller has evidence or information that would indicate to a reasonable person that the condition existed, that's the "should have known" standard. What the average person would know is an indication of a problem that should be disclosed. When it comes to prior information that you may have gotten from the previous seller disclosure or something you learned from living in the house, relevant information should be shared. Anything that affects the current property should be shared. Neighbors, real estate agents, flippers, and heirs could all know information about a listing. Whether a seller is exempt will depend upon your state property disclosure law. Another aspect of disclosure to consider goes beyond the physical appearance or integrity of the property. Many states have laws about psychologically stigmatized properties — these laws hold real estate agents not liable for the failure to disclose the psychological impact on the property (murder, suicide, or other felonies). While most real estate agents do not have an obligation to disclose these things, there are other factors to consider: determining whether the information is fact or fiction, checking state laws, determining relevance, and discussing disclosure with the seller. Another element of disclosure is any work or additions done on the property without permits. This has been an evolutionary area, and the power of local governments is pretty strong in the enforcement of these laws. Even if your seller disclosure statement doesn't have this on it, it should be disclosed, especially for electrical and plumbing projects. What happens when a buyer does an inspection and doesn't want to purchase the property? Your contractual documents should be your main reference for navigating these conversations, primarily on how much of the disclosure and inspection reports should be included. There can be legal consequences if prior inspection items aren't disclosed. As a real estate agent, you can't give legal advice to your clients, but you can decide if you want to continue forward with a listing. The easiest, most practical risk management rules are two things: disclose any major defects in the property that exist currently, and also disclose the history of any major repairs. Remember if you're asking yourself whether you should disclose something, your answer is probably yes! Tweetables: "The whole purpose is to give the buyer the opportunity to know everything that the seller knows about the property that's of any material nature." — Bruce "When we talk about psychologically impacted properties, what we're talking about is things that don't affect the physical structure of the house." — Bruce "It's better to disclose these events that occurred at some point in the process than to let the neighbors tell the buyer." — Bruce Guest Links: BruceAydt.com Additional Links: Crdpodcast.com Onlinelearning.realtor for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] MonicaNeubauer.com

There are so many benefits for real estate agents and REALTOR® members of local associations. Adorna Carroll is on the show to talk about everything that associations have to offer their members. Monica and Adorna share some of the benefits of joining an association, as well as best practices for engaging with your local, state, or national association. There are several values that associations can bring for agents, especially in the real estate industry where there is a three-way partnership between the local, state, and national association. The local association is the first point of contact for many REALTORS®, helping to orient the members and share industry best practices, ethics, etc. The local association also helps members understand what happens at the state and national levels. Another huge benefit of associations is networking! The opportunities are abundant both for you as an agent and for your clients. You have the opportunity to connect with people outside of your market, increase your reach, and work with people who are experts in a discipline other than your own. Networking across disciplines also benefits your communities and the populations you serve. Adorna and Monica talk about some other committees involved in the local, state, or national associations. Many associations have an educational committee, but Adorna views this more as professional and career development; associations should be focusing on getting a variety of people in front of their members who are going to present the best information for growth. Be intentional and pick good courses that are going to further your career. The Ethics and Arbitration option is a big part of the associations and what they're about. There is a code of ethics in the real estate industry that helps to define the boundaries for REALTORS®. Adorna talks about some policies that help to define how agents should conduct themselves. The Government Affairs division is important for advocacy across the industry. The RPAC, or REALTORS® Political Action Committee, is an important vehicle for getting funding, strong lobbyists, and unity in the industry. This committee is on all levels, and forming personal relationships or political contacts is where the work can really get done. Some of the other committees they talk about are the YPN, the Young Professionals Network or Your Professional Network. This was originally created for younger real estate professionals to network and has morphed into a leadership and mentorship program. Most associations also have a finance/budget committee, hopefully with people who have a finance background and good checks and balances in place. There is a shared relationship between association volunteers and association staff. Annual training is key to establishing a productive relationship between both parties. The association staff manages the business and works for the corporation. The volunteers bring creativity and define the horizon line for the association and the members. Adorna's last words for listeners are that getting involved in associations makes the most sense for your business. Not only will you get to know the people you will be working with, but you'll learn so much along the way that it is guaranteed to be a great investment for your business. Tweetables: "Go beyond competency and go for proficiency." — Adorna "If real estate is your career, politics is your business." — Adorna "Getting involved makes good sense for their own personal business. It's an incredible opportunity and an investment in your business." — Adorna Guest Links: Adorna's Website Additional Links: Crdpodcast.com Onlinelearning.realtor for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/Monica.Neubauer Instagram Instagram.com/MonicaNeubauerSpeaks Additional Bio: Adorna O. Carroll, DSA ABR®/M, SRS, CRB, CRETS, RENE, PSA, SFR®, GRI, e-PRO®, C2EX Adorna currently owns and runs three real-estate-related businesses and has had a personal team for over 25 years. As the President of Dynamic Directions, Inc., we are a training and consulting firm that has an extensive faculty of consultants and trainers. Adorna trains REALTORS® all over North America and has authored numerous residential designation and certification courses, the SRS, RENE, several CRB courses, C-RETS, and the new agent training program called The Right Start all part of the REBI — Real Estate Business Institute. In 1997 she completed her term as the State President for the CT REALTORS®, was the 2001 Region 1 VP, an NAR Liaison in 2002, 2003, and 2007, RPAC Trustee in 2004, the 2005 NAR VP & Liaison to Committees, NAR's Chief Political Fundraiser in 2006, a member of the RPAC Hall of Fame, the REBAC Hall of Fame, the 2016 President of the REBI — Real Estate Bus

The need for affordable housing exists in communities across the country. This episode's guest, William Baylor, joins Monica to talk about current federal affordable housing initiatives, as well as the personal initiatives he's involved with in his own market of Birmingham. This episode will provide ideas and resources for how agents can help find rental and purchase opportunities in their marketplaces that are affordable for people with a lower median income. Affordable housing has been something that people have been attempting to do since the turn of the century. The industry definition of affordable housing is when you pay 30% or less of your income towards housing costs. In political housing circles, affordable housing refers to housing that uses some sort of public assistance to support families or individuals who lack the means to pay the market rate in an area. Governments at every level must ensure that there are enough subsidy funds available to meet the needs of their community. William talks about some of the things the federal government is doing for affordable housing, including Opportunity Zones and some relaxed criteria by the FHA. Partnerships between different levels of government are vital to ensuring that communities, and the land, are protected. When you start looking at the makeup of a city, the number two contributor to any city's general funds is property tax. The number one contributor is sales tax, which is driven by those property taxes. It is imperative that the government incentivizes builders to develop areas across the country, either through tax credits or reducing regulations around zoning laws. Zoning should meet locally defined community needs; it is at the heart of growth for a city. There are several different HUD counseling programs that help people get ready to become homeowners. For REALTORS® at large, being familiar with these programs will be a great way to help educate your buyers. On the local level, getting people to see the importance of having affordable housing is the first step. In Monica's market, there is a group that oversees renovations and has built smaller, affordable apartments. In William's market, they are working with the county commission to develop a comprehensive affordable housing plan. There are many parties involved in this initiative (including real estate agents), to hopefully create a plan that could be replicated in other areas as well. Having the REALTOR® buy-in is crucial for creating these opportunities in your communities. Affordable housing initiatives include both rental and purchasing opportunities. These go hand in hand, as every time a first-time home buyer closes, it opens the door for someone to have a new rental opportunity or someone on the waiting list to get a first-time buying opportunity. Some cities will set aside income-based housing that may eventually become market value properties. This will vary across different locations depending on which community groups are involved. For real estate agents, if you're helping your buyers purchase in one of these areas, you want to be able to give them this information upfront. The Home Investment Partnership Program includes things like stabilization programs, community development block grants, and neighborhood stabilization programs. Funds from this program give communities the opportunity to create homeowners, especially for those with low to moderate income. William and Monica talk about transitioning out of the eviction moratorium we were in during the times of COVID-19. Some of the things they are doing to help manage this is providing resources to help renters stay inside of their homes, including government-funded rental assistance. Qualified tenants can apply for assistance through programs in their area. William talks about some other groups that help when tenants may be displaced from affordable housing. As REALTORS® and community stakeholders, it's important to take the time to plan and examine the community you live and work in to look for the areas to make improvements. When looking at affordable housing and other community issues, take a step back and work together to create what you want it to be. Working with government affairs directors can help you as a real estate agent increase awareness about products and resources available in your area. Tweetables: "Affordable housing is not just about new construction, but it's a cohesive and harmonious thing where all groups are working together to make it really happen." — William "When people are invested in their community, then they're also committed to spend money in their community and the commercial will build up as the residential strengthens." — Monica "The heart of what we do is REALTOR®-driven. When you see the dedication and hard work that REALTORS® put in every single day to create opportunities of ownership, it strengthens your commitment." — William "We should rely on rental assistance and strengthen rental

Photos are a must-have when it comes to marketing a home for a listing. In this episode, photographer and real estate agent Brian Copeland shares his thoughts on the importance of great photos for your listings. Brian and Monica discuss the equipment and software that real estate agents can use to get the best photos (and the best price) for their listings. In the climate of the pandemic, virtual showings have become more important than ever. Real estate agents have to become "digital professionals" — capturing the full scope of the property with your virtual deliverables. Houses selling sight-unseen have also become increasingly more common, and a large part of that is due to the level of care agents and photographers put into getting the photos just right. Brian brings some elements of the music industry to his photography approach. As REALTORS® you are Artist & Repertoire directors of homes, overseeing and managing your brand as a whole. It is important to bring a standard to aerials, 3D photos, and stills — you never know what future business you may get (or not get) because of the photos you've presented on your listings. For real estate agents who may not have it in their budgets yet, make sure you learn how to take attractive photos on your phone or with the equipment you do have. Brian and Monica talk about some of the best photography equipment, software, and education resources. You can make almost any equipment work for you; it really comes down to process and using your eye to get the best shots. Some of the equipment that Brian uses are a Canon 6D, as well as a Canon glass, and several different lenses. Nikon and Sony also make quality equipment if you're looking for a camera, but the cameras on iPhones are much better nowadays and can be a viable option. When it comes to software, Photoshop is a great option, and there are other lighting and editing software and apps out there. Lightroom is the standard. For education, one of the best resources is Kelby One. There is also great content available for free on YouTube. If you go the route of hiring a professional, make sure you understand the copyright laws. The person who actually takes the photos owns the copyright to the photos. As real estate agents, it's great to have a conversation up front about copyright, so you both understand the usage of the photos. If you find that your photos have been used, always approach the other agent with professionalism. Houses will sell more when they look better. Decently staged and professionally photographed could bring your seller the anticipatory price, rather than the comp price. To get the best price, it's also important to pay attention to the quality of the full package: 3D, aerial photography, and video. Brian talks about some of the best equipment and software for capturing 3D images and how you can upload them to listing sites, and gives advice for using a drone to capture aerial shots. When it comes to the video for the listing, DJI Products are great to help stabilize your current equipment. Video has SEO strategy for real estate agents, as well as a way to market the property. Most of the MLS have guidelines about what part of your brand can be in the video, so make sure you understand what can be included. As a tip, record an intro and outro that can be used for all of your videos. Brian and Monica talk about some different approaches to video — a walkthrough versus more of a teaser to the house. If you are doing a walkthrough or a virtual tour at request, you have to be quite thorough since the buyer may not lay eyes on the house themselves. This is a great opportunity to establish a sense of trust with your clients as you are candid about the property. Photography is an art form that takes years to perfect. As REALTORS® you want to deliver the best quality product — if that means hiring a professional, do so! If that's not in your budget, make sure you take the time to educate yourself on how to get the best shots, what equipment you can afford, and best practices so your portfolio can stand out! It takes time to learn and you will get better. Tweetables: "Give them that extra level of supplemental digital leadership, and give them the risk; sight-unseen happens all the time and you just have to make sure you're being a great digital supplemental resource." — Brian "It's all a matter of how you use it. You can use any camera with the right lens, the right glass, to your benefit — given that you have a good eye." — Brian "Communication fixes a lot. Kind, professional, nonaccusatory communication helps a lot." — Brian "When you build up that social trust, that digital trust, with your client, they will continue to come back and they're going to tell their friends." — Brian Guest Links: Kelbyone.com Immoviewer.com Theta360.com Dji.com Doorbellnashville.com Additional Links: Crdpodcast.com Onlinelearning.realtor for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and it

Although we are in a multiple-offer market, the appraisal process remains a challenge for real estate agents across the country. In this episode, Candy Cooke joins Monica to discuss some of the best ways to work with appraisers to make more deals. In a fast-moving market, everyone involved in the transaction is a team. It is crucial for REALTORS® and appraisers to work together to get people in homes. Candy has a list of items that she provides to the appraiser. You can still talk to the appraiser until the appraisal is turned in. In her "appraisal packet," she includes a copy of the contract, either the survey or property details that define the bounds, the list of anything that has been done to the house, and any information about comps that would be helpful for the appraiser. The more you can provide upfront, the less they will have to ask about. When providing comps, the best thing you can do is find other properties that would appeal to the same buyer. It is best to give your packet of information to the appraiser before they go to the property. If you are able, you also want to provide other offers if you're in a multiple-offer situation. The best way to get the packet to the appraisers is to make the appointment with the appraiser and the listing agent. You want to make an appointment and make sure the exchange will be secure. You could also send the report over via email. In that case, you don't need to meet them at the property. It is incredibly important to keep the line of communication open with the appraiser! This will improve the working relationship for everyone involved. When working with appraisers from out of the area, real estate agents should ask if they normally work in that area; there is a standard of competency that should make it easier to work across state lines. There are other certifications (green/clean houses, etc) that appraisers should be transparent about their competency in before entering into a transaction. As a REALTOR®, if you are not comfortable with the appraiser, Candy advises going back to the lender or loan officer with your concerns. If needed, you can then escalate to a compliance officer and note that the consumer will suffer. Ultimately, the appraiser is hired by the lender to make sure there is enough equity in a house to sustain a loan. They want to ensure that the lender will get their money back. Once the appraisal report is delivered and the deal is closed, the appraiser can no longer be in communication with the agent. Candy explains what happens in a situation where the appraisal comes in below the contract price. The people who actually use the system, their appraisals are usually successful. In every transaction there are three jobs working concurrently: the listing agent is trying to get the highest price for their seller, the buyer's agent is trying to get the best price for their buyer, and the appraiser is there to help the lender make a financial decision. It is part of the listing agent's responsibility to get any pertinent information to the appraiser, especially if the appraisal came in below the contract price. Candy shares her experience with appraising properties with basements, as well as rural properties. For the rural properties, she creates her own "land grid" that compares different land properties in the area. For unique properties, there is a recommendation on how far back in time and distance to get comps, but since that is just a recommendation and not a requirement Candy encourages agents to do a little bit of both to get a well-rounded grid. A helpful tool for any agent is the NAR's RPR, or Realtors Property Resource®. All your CMA's should be done in RPR! Candy's final word for listeners is to remember that although everyone has a different job, everyone is working together to make sure everyone is happy and deals are able to get done. This episode is full of tips and resources to improve relationships with appraisers. How can you apply these in your own practice? Tweetables: "You don't go after the value, you go after the data." — Candy "We all have different jobs, but if we all work together and we cooperate we can make it work. We're not out there to knock you guys down." — Candy Guest Links: Candy has a private Facebook that you can join. Here is the link. Facebook.com/groups/cookedre Here is a link to the list of items to give to the appraiser before the appraisal. Monicaneubauer.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Cooke-Appraiser-Ch… ANSI Square Footage Guide. http://www.monicaneubauer.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ANSI-Square-Footag… Additional Links: www.crdpodcast.com www.onlinelearning.realtor for NAR Online Education www.training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/Monica.Neubauer Instagram Instagram.com/MonicaNeubauerSpea

In an active seller's market, there's a huge advantage for real estate agents who utilize multiple offer strategies. There are inventory issues in many of the markets in our country right now, which can be difficult for buyers, sellers, and agents alike. In today's episode, Dale Chumbley shares several best practices for real estate agents to help your buyers or sellers win in a multiple-offer market. If a property is priced properly, it's going to be competitive. As an agent, the best thing you can do is educate your client and let them know what to expect in the given market and how you're going to help them through the process. It can also be helpful to have data to show the buyer, but don't go back more than three months, especially in a changing market! Monica and Dale talk about some of the ramifications of overpricing; if you really want to drive competition, you may even want to price slightly down. Dale talks about what elements make an enticing offer. One of the biggest things he does is call the listing agent to figure out exactly what the seller's pain point is and what would help. Establishing this good relationship with the listing agent creates a better stress level for everybody. If you can give a seller a month rent-back free, you can improve the net to the seller without having to see the appraisal come higher. Having strong offers where you can improve the net to the seller is important, especially in these multiple-offer deals. Dale talks about the low appraisal addendum in his market, and how it can give the seller peace of mind. A clean offer is a strong offer. Completely fill out the purchase and sale agreement, and establish respect in the transaction. Having all forms filled out sets a good standard for moving forward. There are also some other best practices, such as not asking for repairs upfront, and an easy way to make comparables with closely related properties. In all of these situations, a call to the listing agent made all the difference. As a real estate agent, make sure you are creating these positive relationships! Bringing the lender into the fold can also be beneficial. Love letters and escalation clauses are more risky and controversial pieces of the closing process. As a listing agent, it's important to explain to the seller the consequences and liability of accepting love letters. These are falling out of best practice — it's more important to know if they are qualified or not. An escalation clause is a document that states how much the buyer is willing to pay over the list price or highest other offer, up to a certain point. For both love letters and escalation clauses, many sellers are putting it in the listing whether they want to accept either. It is more encouraged to put your best offer forward, and as a real estate agent, you want to be able to present your buyer a signable offer. Monica and Dale talk about finding some "off-market" or hidden properties that aren't in the multiple offer market. As an agent, it's important to keep an eye out on these listings or even neighborhood apps to get a feel for what might be out there. Vendor partners can also be incredibly helpful in getting clients. For a listing agent, communication with the seller for their timeline and needs is the most important thing to establish. Pricing will be different depending on when they need to be out, their expectations, etc. It is important to set expectations and explain the value of pricing their home properly. Dale's final word for buyers is: be patient — trust your real estate agent, be patient in the process even though it can be challenging. When it comes to pricing, it's important to provide perspective for your clients. In the long run, sometimes the win isn't getting the best deal, it's getting the home that you want. Tweetables: "Really the main thing is educating them [the buyer], knowing your market, knowing your numbers, knowing your statistics, and knowing the value of pricing your homes." — Dale "Just because it's a crazy market, buyers do not buy just any house." — Monica "It's not just the price, but it's also the strength of the offer." — Dale "People think that high money and fast closing is the win. Sometimes fast closing isn't the win. Sometimes slowing it down and being accommodating to what the seller needs is far more powerful." — Dale Guest Links: Clarkcountyrealestateguide.com Real Living — The Real Estate Group Additional Links: Crdpodcast.com Online learning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] MonicaNeubauer.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/FranklinMonica Additional Bio: Dale Chumbley Dale Chumbley is a second-generation REALTOR® in Vancouver, Washington who has been selling real estate since 1994. He also spent eight years working in the Clark County Department

This episode is all about cybersecurity and protecting your information. Juanita McDowell joins Monica to share her effective and easy-to-implement tips to keep your data safe. They talk about what cybersecurity is, what we really need to protect, and best practices for several different platforms that agents use regularly in their business. Some agents will collect the same information as an online lender, with full disclosure to their client, so there is someone else they trust with this information. By law, personal information has to be protected. When it comes to sensitive information, the "biggies" are social security numbers and date of birth — especially birth year. As an agent, if you feel like you need to collect this information, it is your responsibility to destroy it when it's no longer needed (shred) and protect it upfront (encrypt before making any digital copies). There are certain things you should never put online if you can avoid it; if a hacker or bot gets your information for one site, it is likely they can apply that information to other sites that may be more sensitive. When it comes to passwords, it's no longer just a strong password — 2-step verification is key! When creating your password, incorporate lowercase, uppercase, symbols, and numbers. Once you have a strong password, a 2-step verification is an extra layer of security when you sign in from an IP address it doesn't recognize. If passwords are a challenge for you, use a password locker like LastPass or One Password. You can also create a "master" password and add a memory jogger that is unique to each site you use your password for. We store so much information on our computers and phones, it's important to safeguard those devices with passwords as well. Make sure those types of devices are virus protected as well. Juanita shares some best practices for using Dropbox, including what you should not post to Dropbox, features within Dropbox that you can use, and doing health checkups to see what all is accessing your DB account. With all the different systems we engage with every day, it's incredibly important to know what they do and what's the best use for them. Spend some time and take inventory of what applications and systems you are using, and do some security check-ups to make sure your apps are up-to-date. With subscription-based platforms, the user is the one that needs to tighten them up and make sure they are secure. If you use Google, Juanita's homework assignment is to go to myaccounts.google.com and do a security checkup of your account. Although it's convenient, it's not the best idea to store passwords in your browser. A password locker would be better. All of your devices need a backup system! You need to make sure that your files are being backed up to a reputable cloud, and you want to double-check the security settings. Be very careful about what sensitive information you store in your CRMs. Do your due diligence in picking a CRM provider. The number one thing when it comes to email is to SLOW DOWN. Don't open attachments or click on links from people you don't know, and take a second look from people you do know. You can hover over a link or an email address to make sure it looks legitimate. The other thing about email is to make sure you are checking and responding on a secure network. A VPN is a virtual private network, and it creates a secure tunnel for any of your computer traffic when you're in a public setting. Anything that is posted on social media could be read by anyone or everyone. Even if you delete a post, someone could have already saved or shared this with someone else. There are privacy settings on many social media platforms that can help you recover your data if it's compromised. You should also set up 2-step verification for your social media accounts. If you have an account you aren't using anymore, just take it down. One of the best tips for working with virtual assistants is to create a separate login and password just for them, so they have access to the systems but not your password. Once they are done, change the password so there is no longer access tied to it. It is also important to ensure they have a secure network and their own computer. When it comes to home security, make sure you change the default password for your router. Trust your gut when it comes to home security and investigate when things seem off. Juanita's best practices: stay off free wifi networks unless you have a VPN, create strong passwords, make sure you backup your data. Keep your apps up to date, and know where all of your data is. For agents, put together a data security policy so you know exactly what to do if you are hacked. Tweetables: "First of all I would challenge people, don't get it if you don't need it." — Monica "One of the problems that we have is that we're thinking of the hackers as an individual. Today, our hackers are no longer individuals. They have the sophisticated software that can run

NAR has a new opportunity for you, our members! NAR has partnered with Columbia College for a higher education opportunity in real estate. NAR Academy at Columbia College seeks to facilitate excellent college and certificate programs for agents, brokers, and other industry professionals. In today's episode, Marc and Raj talk about the courses offered through NAR Academy as well as some of the many benefits of pursuing this education. Marc was part of NAR's initial efforts for a degree-granting, accredited institution called REALTOR® University. This program recently graduated their last student, but they saw that there was a greater need for a larger offering at the Bachelor's and Associate's level, rather than just at the Master's level. The partnership they found in Raj and Columbia College is exactly what they were looking for. They've created NAR Academy, with the goal of filling the gap when it comes to real estate by offering a larger variety of college certificates and degree programs. The course offerings cover the business of real estate and the different areas that are crucial to real estate (marketing, finance, etc). They offer five real estate-specific programs: Real Estate Leadership certificate, Digital Marketing for Real Estate certificate, Real Estate Negotiation certificate, as well as two degree programs: an Associate's in Real Estate Management, and Master's of Business Administration (MBA) with an emphasis in Real Estate Management. These programs are a great start for people who want to get a College education, or for those that want to finish a degree, and also provides the best of both worlds in terms of accredited College education and NAR benefits. One of the great things about NAR Academy is that it is flexible with people's schedules, and also accept transfer credits for anyone who has previous higher education. The online courses are taken in eight-week sessions, and students can choose the pace at which they want to complete the programs. The certificates are "stackable" — if you take the certificate courses, you could apply those credits to the Associate's degree. If you are pursuing the Master's, you take the same courses as other MBA students, and then you can take emphasis-area courses in real estate. As a member of NAR, you also get a $100 scholarship per class. NAR Academy helps people get to the next level of their career, and also builds relationships for life. Columbia College offers several distinct benefits for anyone interested in this higher education — remote learning, accreditation, and the partnership with NAR. The partnership is really to benefit the members — what they are doing is the highest and best use of educational time and dollars. What would you do if you could pursue further education in your real estate business? Tweetables: "The goal here with NAR Academy at Columbia College is to offer a larger gamut of college credit-bearing certificates and degree programs. We want to have programming available to REALTORS® that would benefit them in different areas." — Raj Sachdev "This can provide a distinct competitive advantage to members. Students can be exposed to new ideas as well as emerging issues and trends, and really have that conceptual and theoretical backing to the real-world practice that's so important." — Raj Sachdev "For our members, it's an opportunity to network and expand your client base. Not only are you gaining education, but you might be gaining access to a referral and client base you didn't have before." — Marc Gould Guest Links: Nar.realtor/nar-academy Ccis.edu/NAR Additional Links: Crdpodcast.com Online learning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/FranklinMonica Additional Bio: Marc Gould is Senior Vice President of Member Development for the National Association of REALTORS®, overseeing a wide range of leadership and professional development programs for REALTORS®. Since joining NAR in 2006, Marc has launched both the Commitment to Excellence Program and Center For Financial Wellness. He fostered the growth of the Center for Specialized REALTOR® Education, NAR's wholly-owned training and credentials subsidiary, in both membership and course offerings. He oversaw the creation, acquisition, and integration of multiple NAR credentials including the Senior Real Estate Specialist and Green designations. Marc was also instrumental in the creation of REALTOR® University, an accredited distance learning program that offers a master's degree in real estate, and serves as its Dean of Student Services. Marc earned his MBA from Loyola University Chicago and his BA in political science from the University of Michigan. He achieved the rank of major as an officer in the United States Army, serving in p

Growing awareness among real estate professionals has resulted in a clearer understanding that fair housing in America is still an issue. Bryan Greene is the Director of Fair Housing Policy at NAR, and he joins Monica to discuss the state of fair housing in America. He talks about the history that led us to where we are today, as well as what tools NAR is using to help their agents start making a change and help create a more fair and equitable industry. Bryan worked in government for 29 years before making the transition to NAR. He shares his background, and how his desire to make a difference is what led him to work within the real estate industry. Housing is one of the biggest civil rights issues, but also one of the avenues where the industry can have the biggest impact. Along with some recommended reading, Bryan shares the history around segregation in housing. It started out as a private practice, in the form of covenants, but was adopted as official government policy. These policies created patterns — such as generational wealth — that continue to show up today, even though the laws have changed over time. Bryan was hired in a new position as the Director of Fair Housing Policy at NAR. After reading and viewing footage of agents interacting with clients in Long Island, the disparity was apparent. He talks about his role to respond, accept responsibility, and explain to the public how NAR would address these issues. The two things that stuck out were the need for accountability and a culture change. They are triangulating the issue from all sides: mind, heart, and body. Their acronym is ACT!: accountability, culture change, and training. They are doing more immersive training where agents can practice and react to different simulated situations. One of the best ways to learn in any business is from your peers — one of the initiatives they have is to highlight those agents that are successful and practicing fair and equitable real estate. Moving from education into action is one of the most important ways things can start to change. In addition to these videos and profiling different agents and companies, they are also looking at what effects this issue of segregation has on the economy. There is data that shows if some of the larger metro cities were less segregated, their GDP would be higher. School districts and how agents discuss them with clients are another avenue NAR is exploring as a means to promote fair housing. There's more to consider than just a district's test scores. The many tragic events in 2020 have highlighted the thread of injustice and housing segregation. But 2020 has also been an opportunity for many people to learn, and begin to change. REALTORS® have a responsibility to make things fairer, but other parties like lenders, insurance companies, and other parties can also contribute to the disparities we see. The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, and religion; while these shouldn't have anything to do with housing, they historically (and even still) have, and they have had an enduring impact. As more awareness has come up around these issues, there are action steps you can start taking today. There are many communities around the country that recognize what has happened in the past and are taking steps to change things now. The real estate industry can engage with some of these same politicians and strategies, especially at the local level, to make things right. Tweetables: "I believe that right now NAR is the most effective place to make a difference on civil rights issues." — Bryan "It immediately thrust me into the role of responding, making sure that we accept responsibility for what we see, and explain to the public and the Hill how we were addressing these issues." — Bryan "If we could make real progress on some of these issues regarding segregation, we could start to turn the corner so that the next time we have something tragic, maybe we won't fare as poorly." — Bryan Guest Links: Nar.realtor/fair-housing/fair-housing-book-recommendations Nar.realtor/fair-housing/fair-housing-podcast-recommendations Realtorparty.realtor/state-local-issues/issues/fair-housing.html Nar.realtor/fair-housing/fair-housing-makes-us-stronger-commemo… Projects.newsday.com/long-island/real-estate-agents-investigation/ Reading: The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass, by Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism, by James Loewen The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap, by Mehrsa Baradaran Additional Links: Crdpodcast.com Online learning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNBlog.com

Social media is a huge part of real estate, especially in today's climate. Social media is the modern method of communication, and also allows small businesses and individuals to have a broad impact. Katie Lance is an industry social media expert and has been focusing on how to help REALTORS® make the most of their business through social media. In today's episode, Katie and Monica talk about content optimization, some of the heavier aspects of social media, and how we can be intentional with the time we spend on social media. One of the biggest new developments in social media is Instagram Reels. These are short videos up to 30 seconds — since they are quick and fast-paced, they are usually playful. In a business context, it allows business owners or entrepreneurs to present information in a more creative way. Reels are versatile because you can share them in your feed, or repurpose them for other platforms. Every platform is a little different, and providing the context on other platforms is important when using the same content. Another feature of Instagram is Instagram TV, which allows you to share longer videos in your feed. The preview options allow you to build some excitement around the full video content. With a longer video, you can also put a teaser at the beginning to keep people engaged until the end. You can also upload longer videos to YouTube — really make the most of the content you've created by sharing it multiple times! There are heavy aspects to social media, and as it has grown, we've become a product of social media. Katie shares a few tips on how to manage your social media with this information. Check your privacy settings at least a couple of times a year, to make sure they are the way you want them. Also, be careful what you're clicking on and what you're sharing. Katie also talks about being intentional when you go on social media — maybe set yourself a timer, or make sure there is a purpose for why you're on. Katie and Monica talk about how to handle politics and other hot topics in the industry. If you are going to share things on these topics, make sure you're authentic to your own views but also respectful. Don't try to be all things to all people — you may end up seeming a little vanilla. Also, remember aspects of privacy; instead of engaging publicly, you can also engage privately on social media through DMs. This is a great way to learn people's stories and build relationships. LinkedIn is a great place to get your feet wet with more professional social media. When people search for you, it's one of the first things that come up. Make sure you keep it updated and keep it specific as well. It's an easy platform to connect professionally, and also has a blog feature. With the other platforms, there are also elements of control so you can share relevant contact information without having to share everything. Katie's final thoughts: Social media is rented ground. Think about what assets you can create that can go with you wherever you go, even if social media changes. If you put a video on Facebook live, download the video so you can share it elsewhere later. Your content should also be more than just your listings. The goal is to engage people by keeping them curious and having some fun. Be intentional with your time and strategy on social media, and start today! Tweetables: "Reach is one thing, but engagement — I have hundreds of comments on Reels. For anyone who feels a little stuck with Instagram, and you're trying to grow your following and engagement, I definitely would encourage you to play around with it." — Katie "We should plan that way even if we don't want everything publicly visible. We should know that if we put it out there, it could come back to you." — Monica "The thing that a lot of agents do wrong is that they try to be all things for all people." — Katie Guest Links: The Website: KatieLance.com The Podcast: Katielance.com/category/podcast The Videos: Katielance.com/category/getsocialsmart-show Instagram: @KatieLance Additional Links: Crdpodcast.com Online learning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/FranklinMonica Additional Bio: Katie is the CEO and Co-Founder of Katie Lance Consulting. Katie is a nationally known keynote speaker at conferences and events. For the past 10 years, Katie has been working with real estate agents and brokers to help them get smarter about how to use social media to grow their business. Her specialty is in helping real estate agents and brokers achieve big results using social media without spending a ton of time! She is also the author of the best-selling book, #GetSocialSmart and the founder of the #GetSocialSmart Academy. Katie has been named one of the most 100 influential peopl

Today's episode is about lead generation and getting new business. Our guest, Sean Carpenter, shares his definition of relationships, and several different ways you can generate leads using "RELATIONSHIPS" as an acrostic. REALTORS® are always trying to generate new business, and the best way for agents to do that is through consistency, value, and RELATIONSHIPS. Relationships are the key to the real estate business. Most agents spend more of their time on business support when they should be focusing on business development. Building and maintaining relationships is a great way to encourage business development activities. R: Return Calls, Relocation Returning calls in a professional and timely manner is one of the easiest things a REALTOR® can do to build relationships. Having a system in place for checking your calls and voicemails can keep you in control of your phone. Getting to know other agents or brokers around the country can help future incoming business. Regional and national networking is a critical way to grow your business. E: Eager Learner, Email, Expired It's never too late to learn something new — explore new sources of information so you have more conversation topics and can see things from different perspectives. When it comes to email, you want to make sure you're sharing quality messages — make sure it has a specific subject line, and because most people consume email on their phone, you want to make sure it's to the point. Sean's biggest tip for expired listings is to ask the homeowner if they still want to sell. This is a great jumping-off point to determine how to move forward. To avoid competition, reach out on expired listings that are older, rather than the more recent listings. L: Loyalty Cards, Look Around You, Listen vs. Talk As REALTORS® , we are trying to earn loyalty from our clients. You can create a loyalty card as part of your customer loyalty program, by partnering with businesses in your area for incentives. Look around you, metaphorically and physically, for clues and signals for people making a move in the near future. This can help with potential clients. Looking around your community lets you create with intention and changing perspective. Sometimes listening instead of talking can allow you to find out what problems, opportunities, and excitement the people in your community are facing. Listening will help you relate! A: Attitude, Ask, and Appointments One of the most important ways to get more business is by bringing a good attitude to everything you do. Your attitude influences everyone around you. Ask and appointments go hand and hand. As an agent, take opportunities to focus on appointments. You won't sell anything if you don't have an appointment, and you can't have an appointment unless you talk to people. Set at least three appointments a week. T: Thank You Notes, Target, Twitter Write handwritten notes! The gesture of a handwritten thank you note is immeasurable. This meaningful act is a great way to show appreciation for past clients. Know who your target audience is, and make sure what you're doing throughout the day is working towards getting business in those avenues. Finally, Twitter is a great social media platform to listen, engage, share, and support. I: Instagram Instagram is another great social media platform to engage. Have a presence on Instagram, by looking and sharing. Leaving comments on stories and posts will drive traffic to your account as well. Commenting purposefully is huge for earning awareness. O: Open Houses, On Purpose During this time of COVID-19, following safety practices and precautions is very important. But you should still have them, whether in person or virtually. Open houses are a great way to create relationships — not only with buyers but also with potential sellers as well. Be in control of your schedule so that you are operating your business on purpose — everything should be done with intention. N: Nametags This is maybe the second-most important aspect after attitude. When you see someone you know from a previous relationship, or out in public wearing a nametag, use their name! Using people's names is a small way to express gratitude and make them feel valued. S: Sales Meetings, Schools Sales meetings are one of the most important ways you can stay informed, as well as a way to find potential buyers. Being active in a child or grandchild's school is another way to gain top-of-mind awareness. H: Have Fun, Happy Hour, 4H Club Build relationships, solve problems, and have fun. No matter what you're doing, find a way to make it fun. Having a happy hour with friends or clients is a great way to support your local businesses (and grow your own) and develop relationships. Sean shares the way he puts seeds in the ground to grow and maintain your network. This includes handwritten notes, hot sheets, happy birthdays, and high fives. This is an easy way to touch at least 25 people in a short amount of time. I: Ice Cream Social A

Today's episode is all about what goes on behind the mortgage curtain. REALTORS® work closely with lenders and need to know how to ask better questions of the experts. Our guest, Michael "Smit" Smith, shares advice on how to choose more qualified lenders and what questions you can ask to work better with lenders. It is important for REALTORS® to have some knowledge of the lending process, so they can communicate effectively with the lender. This communication is a two-way street, with the lender communicating just as much with the agent. The REALTOR® has a lawful obligation to their client, so they should be leading the conversation and guiding the deal. There are important aspects of both roles, so communication and partnership are key so everyone is on the same page throughout the transaction. The contract is really in control of the transaction, and the date of closing should guide the lender and their processes, as well as the REALTOR® and their processes. As a listing agent, you should make contact with any lenders prior to meeting with their clients to consider any offers. Smit talks about the policies of many banks, and how they handle the process of underwriting. Some banks have private mortgage lending, but the majority of banks require that a property is identified before underwriting. One of the most important questions a REALTOR® should ask any lending company is whether they qualify a borrower separate from their property, or whether their underwriting process only begins when everything is in with the property. Making a call to a lender is incredibly important in establishing a relationship. Especially in this time of COVID-19, talking on the phone is really the most genial and personable way to get to know someone you will be working with throughout the transaction. Michael has a list of questions that REALTORS® should have in their arsenal in order to vet lenders to make sure that they've done their homework. He talks about what things you can ask your clients to provide, and things that are off-limits. Questions from Michael "Smit" Smith for the lenders: 1. How pre-approved are they? 2. Have you talked with or met "our" clients? 3. What paperwork have you received? 4. Have you verified funds needed to close the transaction? 5. Can you provide evidence of funds? 6. Has the client made an application? 7. Have you run it through an Automated Underwriting System — AUS? Desktop Underwriter — DU — (Fannie Mae) or Loan Processor — LP — (Freddie Mac)? 8. Are there any outstanding conditions not met? 9. Have you pulled a tri-merge credit report? 10. What is your appraisal delivery time? 11. Can you close in 30 days? 12. How long have you been in lending? 13. Will you make a pre-emptive call to the listing agent? There are three main lending groups that most residential agents work with: the bank, mortgage lender companies, and mortgage brokers. Each group has their own underwriting processes. Mortgage brokers provide options for the borrowers, but if they don't have delegated underwriting they turn the package over to a lender. For agents, put together your own list of five to 10 questions that you ask any lender to get to know their process. If you understand what it is, you can better work in partnership with them for the benefit of your client. REALTORS® can also do a few things to help the lenders. Having open lines of communication is absolutely key. You can also check in with them to see if there is any documentation you can get from the client to make sure the lender has everything they need. In the case that there's an addendum, make sure you get in contact with the lender and provide it if needed. Make sure you also keep an email record of your communication. Michael talks about some of the reasons contracts might be extended. It all comes back to communication and relationship. The lender should be communicating with agents at least once a week with progress on the deal. The agents should also be reaching out to the lender, so everyone is holding each other accountable. With the final words, Smit shares the most important questions to ask. The main question you want to ask is how pre-approved is the client, or ask whether an underwriter has seen the file. You can also use their NMLS number to get an idea of their experience. With the questions you ask up from, you as the REALTOR® can set the tone for the whole deal. Tweetables: "You need to make sure that right upfront, you are setting up a stage with that lender that we need effective, continuous, contiguous communication throughout the entire process." — Michael "Smit" Smith "A lender can make or break a deal." — Michael "Smit" Smith "Real estate should be open and notorious. There shouldn't be any hidden agenda; it's a contract." — Michael "Smit" Smith "We need to be an advocate for our client. Once you stop being an advocate for your client, you just failed your client, and you failed the transaction, and you failed yourself." — Michae

REALTORS® are being targeted more and more over the past ten years. With September being REALTOR® Safety Month, Donny Allen joins Monica on the show today to talk about safety on the job —best practices to keep yourself and your clients safe. Monica and Donny discuss effective ways to help REALTORS® live in confidence, not in fear. Donny grew up on large farms and ranches and had to learn to defend himself from the different animals and also gained a heightened mindset of awareness. When he got started in real estate, he found he had a passion for teaching REALTOR® safety. When you think about safety, it's not just physical safety; it's our reputation's safety and financial safety. Situational awareness is key to the real estate business now more than ever. Some vulnerable situations are meeting clients at unfamiliar properties, sitting in an open house alone, and even issues like cybersecurity. Donny shares safety tips for meeting strangers or new clients. If you don't know the client, try to meet them at the office first, rather than meeting them at the property. If you're able, take someone to go along with you. Also, be conscious of what time you are meeting new clients, and arrive early to get a lay of the property. Monica talks about the protocol she uses for herself when meeting clients. It is important to have some sort of consistent system or policy so all potential clients are treated fairly. If you run an office or a brokerage, it is important to have an office policy as well. There also needs to be training around agent safety so everyone is aware and follows the same policy. Donny and Monica talk about the public reaction to some of these safety precautions. For the majority, these safety measures are met with positive response because it protects not only the REALTOR® but also the client. In any situation, it's important to approach your decision based on your training and experience. Donny shares some statistics on the self-defense weapons REALTORS® carry. If you don't think you can use a weapon for defense, don't carry it. Regardless of what philosophy you adopt in your own business, make sure you have a plan for getting out of potentially dangerous situations, and practice that plan so you can execute it should you ever need to. Donny shares some of the statistics on how many agents have experienced safety concerns, whether a physical attack or cyber attack. Thirty-three percent of all REALTORS® have felt uncomfortable in a situation. Monica shares her own experience with this. There are some safety apps you can download to your phone to help keep you safe. It will come down to what is best for you, but some apps Donny recommends are CentraLock, SupraBox. Many smartphones also have an emergency SOS feature. A battery-operated noisemaker that you keep on your person can also be very effective. While these apps and devices are valuable, don't put all of your comfort in an app. Make sure you have some sort of backup. Donny's parting thought for agents is to have a plan and practice different scenarios. Take a self-defense class, and always be willing to ask for help or take a buddy. The most important thing is to trust your instincts and increase your situational awareness. Tweetables: "I believe that with good planning, people are aware and prepared and they don't need to live in fear." — Monica "That's exactly what I want to point out. I want to bring your awareness to not only what you're doing, but what they're [the client] doing as well." — Donny "We've talked a lot about weapons, but I would always say getting away from the situation is best." — Donny Guest Links: Donny's Website Nar.realtor/safety Nar.realtor/safety/56-safety-tips-for-realtors Additional Links: crdpodcast.com Online learning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/FranklinMonica Additional Bio: Donny Allen ABR®, CIPS, CL, CLHMS, CRB, CRS, GRI, MGRI, MRE, PMN, SRS, AHWD, e-PRO®, PSA, SFR® Donny Allen is a Broker/Owner and Agent with Keller Williams Realty of Southwest Missouri located in Joplin, MO. Donny began his real estate career as a salesperson with Century 21 Associated Ltd in 1996. Donny holds the ABR®, CIPS, CL, CLHMS, CRB, CRS, GRI, MGRI, MRE, PMN, and SRS designations in addition to the AHWD, e-PRO®, PSA, and SFR® certifications. He has been teaching, training, mentoring, and coaching agents for more than 24 years. Donny is a graduate of the 2006 Missouri REALTORS® Leadership Academy and the 2017 NAR Leadership Academy and he was inducted into the NAR RPAC Hall of Fame in 2017 and the REBAC Hall of Fame in 2019. Donny is a hard-working REALTOR® who lives to help and serve at a high level in his chosen profession. What you may not know… is that Donny has a passion to s

Today's environment has provided opportunities for REALTORS® to help their communities grow. One of these ways is to create your own media source as a mouthpiece in your community, which is exactly what our guest has done. Aaron Masliansky joins Monica on the show today to talk about the podcast he created, and the impact it's had on him both personally and professionally. In these uncertain and unprecedented times, we need some new solutions for marketing opportunities and ways to connect with our clients and followers. Aaron invests with his community through his podcast that highlights the many different people in his area and shares their stories. He talks about what hurdles he overcame to actually get started on the podcast, and how the focus of the podcast evolved over time. Aaron talks about the impact of his podcast. Not only is he garnering more attention for himself and attracting guests to be on his show, but he's also been able to do interviews with very notable people in and around his community. As he learns from his guests, there is a change within as well as a change in others. Aaron uses the skills he's learned from real estate to help guide his conversation in interviews with his guests. Just letting people speak is important; you learn through the conversation and the more you practice, the more you can hone your technique. Don't let your uncertainty keep you from moving forward — you've got nothing to lose! There are many outlets to explore, depending on what you're interested in and what you're good at. It's not necessarily the medium that matters, but what makes you feel comfortable and what resonates with you. There isn't one right way to create content for your followers or your community. The podcast medium does allow for more in-depth conversation than some other mediums. Aaron and Monica talk about how you can reach success through the podcast medium. While success is different for everyone, Aaron's success comes from being to shine a light on the guests who come on his show, and make a positive change in their lives. Aaron and Monica talk about the impact the podcast has had on Aaron's real estate business. One of the best ways to get business is to be well-connected in your area, and not just in the real estate business! Continue to show up in person and in ways people can see you. Monica and Aaron talk about finding a platform that works for you. Whether you're introverted or extroverted, like photography or prefer writing, there is a platform for you to create and have your voice heard. The most important thing is keeping it authentic for yourself. The possibility of burnout is real and likely, especially if your content is in addition to a full-time job or other obligations. Aaron talks about the way he has streamlined his podcast production, as well as other tips and tricks he has for preventing burnout. If you want to do something like this, make sure you give it some time. Don't worry if it's not perfect right away. It may take time to get the results you want. Have some fun while you figure it out! Aaron's final word for listeners is to go to what you enjoy and be passionate about whatever you do. You never know what doors you might open for yourself or others. Tweetables: "It doesn't matter the medium. I don't think the medium matters, it's how you feel comfortable." — Aaron "Because I have this platform, I have given someone this opportunity to have the light shined upon them." — Aaron "One of the best ways for REALTORS® to get business is to go about their life in the community they live in." — Monica Guest Links: Skevanston.com Links to the Podcasting Handouts on Monica's website: funtentionalliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Getting-Started-wi… funtentionalliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Getting-Started-wi… Additional Links: crdpodcast.com Online learning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Episode with Mor Zucker Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/FranklinMonica Additional Bio: Aaron Masliansky lives with his family in Skevanston, which is an area of Skokie that has an Evanston mailing address and school districts. Residents have dubbed the area Skevanston because of the mix of both towns. Aaron is a REALTOR® at Dream Town Realty in Evanston and is connected with his local and global community. He is a Young Professional Ambassador with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. a fellow with the UNA Chicago Engage an Embassy Fellowship, on the Global Real Estate Council at the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and on the Young Professional Committee with Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center.

Today's episode is all about the data! Our guest, Jessica Lautz, is the VP of Demographics and Behavioral Insights at NAR, where she focuses on different trends in the industry and how this directly affects different housing markets. In today's episode, they discuss the transforming market due to COVID-19 and trends that the data is reflecting. They also discuss the impacts of this data for the coming months, and what the next few months look like for agents across the nation. It's important to know about and understand data as a REALTOR®. Understanding the nuances of the data helps you track changes in preferences and demographics, as well as other aspects that can help you plan for the coming months. The data can also help you see the bigger picture around trends you may be noticing in your own market. Monica talks about how she has applied surveys and data in two of her own listings. Jessica talks about some of the trends that we are seeing during this time of COVID-19. One of the big trends is getting houses move-in ready so that when sellers are ready to put their houses on the market they will be ready for the buyers. They also talk about the contrast of downsizing — in size and money — while some people are looking for larger spaces to accommodate work and school from home. REALTORS® can access this data and research on social media and on the NAR website: nar.realtor/research-and-statistics. Jessica talks about the process of gathering their data, and some of the data sources they use, including their members and information from government sources. They extract the things that are important for consumers to understand. This content is great for agents to share with their clients in their regular communication. Jessica talks about some of the results of COVID-19 that will impact the next six to eight months, or maybe even longer. Two of the biggest things cropping up are more office space, but also more outdoor space for recreation or gardening. There is also an increase in multi-generational housing; they also talk about the potential for a baby boom and pet adoption. Monica and Jessica discuss how these trends affect different demographics of home buyers. Jessica and Monica talk about the specific demographic of younger and older Millennials, and how Wi-Fi and working from home has been a big shift in where they are buying, and when they are buying. They also talk about what trends they are seeing in older generations, in terms of their debt, retirement, and multi-generational housing. The data shows that there is a strong recovery for the economy right now. Monica and Jessica talk about the importance of affordability in this market, and the inventory shortage. Interest rates are low right now so some buyers are able to enter the market. As agents, if you dig into your markets and go beyond the MLS, you might find the inventory to help your clients. It's important to have patience right now in this transforming market. COVID-19 is changing so much about real estate, and buyers are receptive and eager for the personal relationship with their REALTOR®. One of the recent things Jessica has looked into is how legalizing marijuana has affected the commercial sector and residential real estate. There is an increased demand for storefronts and warehouses in the commercial sector, but Jessica talks about some of the complications it is causing for the residential areas. Looking at the laws in states where it's legal and connecting with agents in that state can be helpful to apply to your market. One final tool they highlight is NAR's Right Tools, Right Now program. This program features new resources and discounted classes to support real estate professionals during the COVID-19 era. Using these resources can provide the information you need to work with new consumers who are out there and ready to buy. Tweetables: "When we close a data set, it's like a box of chocolates — you don't know what you're gonna get until you really start diving into it. You start seeing what people's opinions are and how they're changing." — Jessica "Without understanding what's going on in local markets, we can't grab that data." — Jessica "Go look for the inventory. I think sometimes it's out there, and if you can get it in advance, you're doing everyone a service. Plan for the long-term rather than live in the urgency of the day-to-day MLS." — Monica Guest Links: Instagram: @narresearch Twitter: @NAR_Research Facebook: NAR Research Nar.realtor/right-tools-right-now Additional Links: crdpodcast.com Online learning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/FranklinMonica Additional Bio: Dr. Jessica Lautz is Vice President of Demographics and Behavioral Insights at the National Associat

In this episode, Monica and her guest discuss another area of real estate that is adapting during this time of pandemic: the closing process. Many of the recent topics have focused on how to navigate the environment we're in with social distancing. The online and mobile methods of closing that Marvin talks about today are ready to be put into the mainstream process. Be on the lookout for them and add them to your tool belt! The closing situation has been shifting for a while, but COVID-19 has forced some changes in terms of where, when, and how closings are happening. Traditionally there have been two primary ways of closing: table closings and escrow closings. Over the past few years, it has gradually moved online. This allows agents, buyers, and sellers to review documents before it's time to sign them. Marvin shares the history of online closings; when it first started, there were only about three or four companies doing these transactions. RON (remote online notarization) transactions authenticate the identity of the buyer or seller and the notary. Because of the nuance of lender documents, hybrid transactions have been popular to accommodate signatures and other specifics. Many lenders have their own RON platforms. With this global pandemic, people were forced to make changes in a short amount of time. The definition of "in-person" had to change so that things like notarization could be done on video instead of face-to-face. Another method is a PRON transaction (paper remote online notarization), which is like a mail-away closing, where they receive and sign the papers on video and send them back to the lender. Marvin shares some different specifics of how these scenarios could play out, especially if the parties are in two different states or one party isn't technically savvy. While some of the technical aspects of closing transactions are worked out online, the elements of support and celebration are missing when their REALTOR® can't be there. Most of the remote platforms allow multiple people to be on, so the agent could "be" there remotely. The convenience of these different transactions (RON, PRON, RIN) will likely carry forward even after emergency orders are lifted. The title/escrow industry is different all over the country, based on the local practice. RON and PRON have to adapt to the different laws of each state. As an agent, it is good to know what these laws are and what is available for an online closing. These efforts have come from many different organizations to get new options in motion: NAR, MISMO, and ALTA. This trifecta working together helped to make sure processes were standardized, and all different perspectives and needs were considered and met. Everything is in place, and it's time to start adopting some of these methods. There is also still the option to have your paper closing. Marvin shares a quick explanation of title insurance, and why it's good for clients. It primarily protects homeowners against financial loss, so they get what they pay for. It protects against the unknown. There are many things that are brought together by the title company, and it ends up being a very valuable service. As an agent, check with your escrow or title professional to see what options are available to help your clients during these changing times. The more you know, the more power you have to help your buyers and sellers. Tweetables: "It's really come all the way from having to go somewhere, to now the transaction is sort of coming to you as the buyer, seller, or REALTOR®." — Marvin "That's kind of the trifecta. When you look at MBA, NAR, and ALTA, that's a lot of people really coming together to make it all work." — Marvin "We can keep doing the paper in-house closing as we want to, but we know that this option is available for the client who needs or wants, and we'll jump in when we need to." — Monica Guest Links: Blog.stewart.com/stewart/author/mstone/ Linkedin.com/in/marvstone/ Additional Links: crdpodcast.com Online learning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/FranklinMonica Additional Bio: Marvin Stone Senior Vice President, Business Integration / Innovation Council Leader Acting as a strategic business partner focused on industry outreach to real estate, mortgage, and title agencies. Leading Stewart's Innovation Council that is focused on discovering and leveraging technology solutions for strategic business outcomes. Actively involved in ALTA efforts to advance the industry, including the Best Practices Task Force, ALTA Registry Design Group, ALTA Fintech Workgroup, Closing Insight Advisory Board, Signing Professionals Workgroup, MISMO Fee Naming Group, MISMO eClosing workgroup and more. A frequent speaker at real estate, mortgage, and

Even though financial experts don't agree on where we're headed economically, there are still principles that can help you improve your financial situation in any market. Today's guest, Ryan Bokros, joins Monica to talk about some of these practical principles that you can start applying today. They cover expenses, savings, lending, the current market climate, and what you can do now to make sure you come out of this time successful. One of the most important basic financial rules is to treat your business finances like you would your personal finances. Keep a separate checking account and a savings account, and a credit card specific to a purpose. For agents, as you start to get in touch with your expenses, go through all of your monthly fees and really identify where your money is going, and how often you are utilizing the products of those charges. If it's not an essential part of your business, start looking here first for places to gain control. You can prioritize products or software by things that provide a benefit — making you money, or helping you stay more connected. Ryan and Monica discuss some of the kinds of marketing and different apps people might be using where you could save money, especially during this slower time. If you can't correlate a cost per lead to close, this would be a good place to cut costs. You also need to watch out for annual subscriptions; you can look through your credit card bills to help track these things. Savings is an interesting discussion; a big part of savings comes back to lifestyle and how that correlates to the income that you have. Prospecting income in real estate is different because you don't necessarily have a paycheck every two weeks. Ryan talks about a quarterly savings structure, and using more of a chunking method instead of giving a percentage of a check, for example. It is wise to keep at least a few months of cash in an emergency fund that you can access when/if needed. This will be especially important as things start to turn in the coming months. As you cut your expenses, don't forget to save! Today's lending environment is very fluid, even from day to day. When giving your clients information, keep it broad. Give them enough information that they will come to you when they are ready or have questions. If you don't have one person that you would trust to do your own mortgage, then you're behind on being able to provide the best advice to your clients. A trusted relationship with your own lender is crucial to be able to share the best information to your clients. Ryan and Monica talk about how the big banks can help predict trends that may trickle down to smaller, local bank lenders. Keep your finger on the pulse for yourself, and also build those trusted relationships so you can supply information to your clients. Ryan and Monica briefly touch on our current situation with the forbearance issue and deferrals. All of the banks are going to handle these differently when it comes time for people to pay these back. They talk about the likelihood of an inventory struggle coming out of this, and what consequences may follow. As agents, we don't have to understand all of this, but we do have to understand that there is change happening that we may not fully understand yet, but that will affect us and our clients. We may need to step back and focus on advising, rather than buying or selling. This will be the difference between agents who come out successful from this time and those who don't. When it comes to the financial part of your business, be a learner. Be discretionary with your spending, and also intentional about your learning and where you're getting your information. Keeping people informed can help keep anxiety low, and help clients make good decisions. As an agent or a client, make sure you are always looking at real numbers. Spend some time looking at your finances, and make sure you are set up for success. Tweetables: "For many of us that are in real estate, the chasm between our business expenses and our personal expenses is really close." — Ryan "Having that emergency fund is huge for a self-employed person because quite frankly, it helps you sleep better.' — Monica "The people who came out of that with successful businesses were the people who took a step back during that time and said 'What can I do to effectively make sure that I'm the best person for the consumer right now.'" — Ryan Guest Links: Ryanbokros.com Financial wellness.realtor Mint Additional Links: crdpodcast.com Online learning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.com/FranklinMonica Additional Bio: Ryan Bokros has been serving Houstonians in many aspects of the real estate industry for over 14 years. He is a practicing REALTOR® and

In today's dynamic world, the methods and means of communication are shifting, especially for REALTORS®. Maintaining relationships is a key part of the real estate business. Kim Cameron is the special guest on the show today to share some of her systems for staying in touch with past clients and friends. She and Monica talk about the importance of what they are doing now, and how some of these practices may carry forward even once we are out of this time. Kim talks about her mindset when she is checking in with her clients. When you approach the relationship from service rather than sales, it helps to establish long-term relationships when they need help with real estate. Having these routine conversations keeps both you and your clients energized, and you can check in on things not related to real estate. This may also help you find businesses or organizations that may need some support during this time. What we do today is going to affect our business down the road. Kim talks about what preparations she is making as she plans for the remainder of the year. REALTORS® are able to work remotely pretty easily, but they now are empowering their clients to be able to participate in real estate virtually. Kim talks about using FaceTime and a photographer to be able to list properties with very minimal contact or exposure. She also has been hosting virtual happy hours that offer an open forum for clients to ask real estate questions. One of the most important things Monica has found during this time is constant contact, especially when working through challenging situations. It's important to communicate what you know with your clients, and invite a cooperative approach to keep each other informed. As you connect with and continue to help your clients, it's also important to find a way to celebrate wins with your clients and find ways to adapt during this time. Kim and Monica talk about some "drive-up" closings and other ways they are able to tweak their arrangements to still provide that personal connection. Kim shares some of the systems she uses to communicate with her team and her clients. One of these is the "Weekly 35" which outlines 35 different ways of communication each week, including hand-written notes, phone calls, and compliments. She also talks about how they have adapted this during our time of social distancing. She also talks about some of the ways they strategically maintain relationships with the top 50 or so clients in their database. Monica has a 4-3-2-1 system that she focuses on. Monica and Kim talk about the potential shifts and changes we might see coming out of COVID-19, specifically a slower market. Real estate is local, so it will vary from market to market, but will likely be slower overall. Kim shares her tips for keeping up with her clients during a longer process. The number one thing is to organize your finances. If you can get your business financially lean, you will be more profitable. Focus on the more economical ways to contact your clients, such as phone calls vs. newsletters. Share the actual data that you can with your clients about your specific market. Kim shares some of the ways she works on price reductions with her clients to adjust to the market. Regular and intentional communication is what will help you and your clients get through this difficult time. You can cater your content to the needs of your clients, and also remain empathetic towards their situation. As a REALTOR® you may have to have some hard conversations, but do it from a place of caring. To wrap up, Kim shares some of her final thoughts on moving into a new normal. They've shifted to try to prevent clients from going out to see properties, to save time, and practice safe social distancing. Changing how we communicate with clients about showings may also change the approach for house hunting. As you are communicating with your clients, now and as we move out of this time, listen between the lines for what your client really needs. Tweetables: "The big part of the motivation is just showing you care. Those little calls go such a long way. Right now, since we don't have as much face-to-face time with people, those calls are deeper and more meaningful." — Kim "I thought it would feel impersonal, but what I'm finding is it's not because we're actually having more face-to-face time with the client that we have in the past." — Kim "Worst-case scenario, you are showing someone that they are thought of and cared about and you feel glad to connect as well. If that's the worst-case scenario, it's all up from there." — Monica Guest Links: Realtystlouis.com Facebook.com/KimCameronGroup/ Additional Links: crdpodcast.com Online learning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Facebook.co

In our changing times, REALTORS® have had to learn to adapt in a way that allows them to serve their clients, while also complying with new laws and policies surrounding COVID-19. Virtually viewing and virtually showing properties is becoming more popular and attainable. In today's episode, Craig Wilburn shares some of the developments his team has made in creating a process to continue facilitating the viewing of properties during this time. Craig and Monica also talk about some different platforms you can use to create these virtual showings, and what you can do for buyer's agents to help them out. Even before it was a necessity, Craig has been taking advantage of technology to do some virtual showings. Social distancing has required him to look into all the different aspects of his business and how they carry these out. Craig talks about his first virtual open house experience, and how they structured it for themselves. Some of the logistics of their first virtual open house were to run it on their team/business page, but you might want to consider hosting it on whatever page gets the most likes/traffic. Craig also talks about the personnel involved, and how each person played a specific role to help interaction. You can also create a watch party, which can help engagement. Monica also shares some other things she did for her own Facebook live event. There are ways to get sellers involved! They can help by hosting a virtual tour. Craig and his team came up with their own process to help sellers that has 10 steps, including a CDC-safe walk-through, virtual consults and listing appointments, and emailing documents for electronic signatures. He also talks about the way they handle onboarding, closing, and moving processes remotely. One of the things Craig created during this time was a forum for buyers, sellers, and contractors to help everyone stay connected during this time. Craig talks about what they do for the seller and seller's agent, as well as the buyer and the buyers' agent. They are doing the most they can to help people navigate through this time that we're in. These protocols are to keep everyone in the industry safe and still able to practice real estate. Monica discusses some additional different ways to connect people remotely when it is essential to buy or sell. REALTORS® can help buyers' agents who want to use video for transactions, by creating a visually stimulating product. Craig and Monica talk about three main ways to do this: Matterport, using the live video, and a short video walkthrough with commentary that can be shared with buyers' agents. Zillow also has a 3D option and video through their Premier Agent app. Zoom has also been a great alternative for getting your clients what they need during this time. Craig and his team have been able to get clients who otherwise wouldn't be selling, due to their creativity in finding ways to continue their business. Some of the main platforms you can utilize for speaking and video are FaceTime, What's App (especially for international clients), Zoom, and Skype. It's important to use something that's easy to access and simple to figure out; it should be easily integrated into what you're already using and doing. Some apps for creating video on your phone are InShot and Quik. If you are able to do something during these unprecedented times, do it! Be supportive of other agents in this industry. For people who need to buy or sell right now, your creative approach will be crucial in helping them. Tweetables: "It's an opportunity for us to get out there and be visible and be present, and do it in a way that's respectful of what's going on. If you can find a way to add value to people who really do have to buy and do have to sell, this is a great way to do that." — Craig "For those of us that are still able to practice, for now, we have to be really diligent about how we do that, and make sure that everyone knows we are putting every protocol in place to follow the rules, so we can stay essential in the transaction." — Craig "It's a great alternative right now for getting people what they need. I think the main part is what we are doing is being creative. We're thinking outside the box, and we're giving people alternatives. You can do almost anything virtually." — Craig Guest Links: TDynamo.com Facebook.com/teamdynamokw Covid – 19 Questionaire items from Craig's team - http://funtentionalliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/COVID-19_REAL-estate-Questionaire-1.pdf Virtual Showings Infographics - http://funtentionalliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Virtual_Listing_info-scaled.jpg Additional Links: Matterport InShot App Quik rebinstitute.com crdpodcast.com Online learning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNBlog.com Monica's Facebook Page Faceb

Establishing a work-life balance is important in overall life management. In today's episode, Cheryl Knowlton returns to the show to talk about life management in real estate. It can be challenging to set boundaries when you don't necessarily work a traditional nine to five job. In this episode, they talk about making shifts in our business, what systems you can put in place, and the importance of making time for yourself and the people you love. As you listen, take a breath, and use this opportunity to think about what changes you may need to make. Many people get into real estate for the job flexibility, but sometimes this flexibility can backfire and turn into too much work or end up taking an emotional toll. Cheryl talks about some statistics about some realities in real estate. One of the biggest factors to upset work-life balance is expectations — of what the industry really is and what it requires. Cheryl shares her own journey of getting into real estate. She started on the mortgage side of things, and after getting her real estate license, she had to change her mindset and her skill set. Education and designations were instrumental in getting her to where she is today. Education can help you restructure and improve your business in ways that will remove stress from you and your clients. Cheryl shares a resource you can use to identify and diagnose what aspects of your life are out of balance. Knowing this can help you pick out the pain points that you need to adjust to balance things out. Use the code BONUS with the Self-Assessment link below to find out yours. She talks about the importance of having a coach or accountability partner and setting measurable goals. If you are struggling to find balance, it is important to get feedback from others. You can identify which area is causing you stress, and then focus on fixing that. Monica talks about taking a sabbatical, and how this helped to reinvigorate her business. They talk about things you can do on sabbatical, to refuel not only in business but also in your personal life. Cheryl talks about her daily schedule, and how having systems in place helps her keep her business structured. Anytime anything isn't working, we need to create a new system to figure out how to make it work. Monica and Cheryl talk about some of their business systems, including a transaction coordinator, an assistant (if you can), and also people to help with other chores so you can take things off your own plate. Make today count — whatever systems you are putting in place for your business or personal life, it's important that it's affording you more time to be with the people that you love. When you're with them, try to make sure you don't have any outside distractions so you can be in the moment. Setting these types of boundaries is especially important for individuals who don't work a traditional nine-to-five job. Setting goals for your personal life can also inspire you to work harder. Having goals that are beyond paying the bills can keep you motivated. Cheryl talks about 10 areas in her life and the goals she is working toward in each area. She also shares how she is able to find joy in each area, even when it's hard. As you set these goals for yourself, make sure they are things you are in control of. When you control what you can control, everything else seems to fall into place. Tweetables: "Anyone who has any business background at all, you don't have to have an MBA to know that starting a business of any kind is expensive, and it requires blood, sweat, and tears." — Cheryl "No matter where you are in your real estate career, education is the key to get you behind the wheel of that Ferrari and help you drive it successfully." — Cheryl "Any time we do something, even if it's a small thing, that creates marital harmony or greater happiness in ourselves, that has ripple effects on every aspect of our lives." — Cheryl Guest Links: Cheryl's Book Cherylknows.com Workpurposefully.org Self-Assessment Clever Fox Planners Passion Planner High-Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way, by Brendon Burchard Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges, by Amy Cuddy The 5 Second RuleTransform your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage, by Mel Robbins Additional Links: rebinstitute.com crdpodcast.com Online learning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNBlog.com Additional Bio: Cheryl Knowlton is the CEO and Chief Energy Officer of Dynamite Productions, Inc. A 20-year veteran of the real estate and mortgage industries, Cheryl works with real estate professionals who want to increase confidence through compliance and elevate their expertise through education. Cheryl is a proud member of the National Speakers Association and holds th

It's important for agents to know about brokerage models and how they can best use the services to their advantage based on their needs. In today's episode, Keith Davis is on the show to talk about good practices and processes for brokers, and how they can build a great culture for their agents. They cover the importance of brokerages being a supportive resource for their agents and how authenticity can enhance the customer experience not only for agents but their clients as well. Keith has been the managing broker for two offices in Virginia for Nest for about four years now. Each state operates differently in regards to how many offices you can be over as the principal broker. It all depends on what services a brokerage office is trying to offer. One of the most important aspects of a brokerage is risk management, and the second piece is training for expertise in the real estate industry. At Nest, they stress this training so that their agents can understand vendors in other industries and better help their clients. You need someone who understands the roles of other partners in a real estate transaction, that can explain it to the buyer and the seller. It comes down to brand management in addition to risk management. Keith talks about the importance of finding and training agents that are in line with the values of the brokerage firm. Brokerages need to be focused on who is in line with them, the culture they are trying to cultivate, and the business they are trying to attract. There are many different brokerage models, and in the market, there is a space for everyone. At Nest, they look at as many different industries as they can to get ideas about their business model. Monica and Keith discuss the different advantages of physical versus online retail. It is the same thing with brokerages — what is the statement that is received when people walk into your establishment? Keith talks about some of the things they do at Nest to build this culture and make this statement, including a party to thank their clients each year. Part of the value proposition of a brokerage firm is the confidence of being in front of the client. Confidence is improved when you have clear products in front of you that you can use with your clients. Some of these products include data and marketing; the brokerage can provide access to these tools. Monica and Keith talk about competing brokers. It's important to be a resource for your agents, rather than part of the competition. Choosing not to compete can really help strengthen the sense of trust in an office. This can be more difficult in smaller markets. They talk about the difference between being out in the sales field versus management. This has shaped the way they approach the growth of their agents at Nest. A full-service brokerage impacts their sellers and buyers on a daily basis that makes them excited about the service they are receiving. You also have to decide the length of relationship with clients — when does it start and when does it end? The least expensive customer is the one you already have. Keith talks about the importance of hanging on to the agents they have and creating an environment that helps their agents thrive. When their business grows, your business will also grow. Keith's last word for brokers is that the most important factor is authenticity and being true to your own voice. If what you're creating is true to you as a broker and how you want to treat clients, then you will be set up for success in the future. Authenticity and genuine relationships allow businesses to grow. Tweetables: "If you don't have a working knowledge of what your vendor partners are doing and what their role is, your ability to assist your client is limited." — Keith "That's what people want from real estate. They want to have an agent who is connected with them beyond just being able to show them property." — Keith "Authenticity is that you are focusing on a thing that is true for you." — Keith Guest Links: [email protected] Additional Links: CRD Episode 24 with Pete Blank homebot.ai rebinstitute.com crdpodcast.com OnlineLearning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNBlog.com Additional Bio: Keith Davis is a Founding Partner and Principal Broker of Nest Realty, a brokerage based in Charlottesville, VA. Nest currently has 15 offices across Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia. Keith's first foray into real estate began after college when he worked for a regional mortgage company, first in production and then, compliance. This took him into the start-up world where Keith worked with several companies in high-growth mode, focusing on new product launch and IP commercialization. During this period, he earned his MBA from UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School

The Real Estate Tech Guru Craig Grant joins Monica on the show today to do a tech overview in the real estate industry. They discuss several different tech items that are around or will be around in the next 5-10 years, and how this will directly affect REALTORS® and agents. This is a great episode to familiarize yourself with tech concepts that are prevalent in today's real estate climate. The first tech item they talk about is the next generation of cars. Right now cars are starting to integrate with smartphones and AI; down the pipeline, there will be developments that will change real estate. 100% autonomous driving is going to change the look of a car, and what kinds of garages and car-related amenities people will need. Smart homes are growing more than we realize. Over 50% of US households have a smart speaker, like Amazon Alexa or Google Home. You can get three smart devices and qualify yourself as a smart house. Smart house technology is going to continue to grow, especially now that younger generations are interested in real estate. Smart home technology can also provide companionship for the aging generations. For safety, it is crucial that your devices and your network are locked or password protected. Craig talks about a few other things to think about as a REALTOR® in a smart home. The third piece in the tech world is internet-based tools. Today, most agents rarely have to go into the office because the cloud allows people to be more mobile and work remotely, rather than in a physical office. EXV is one of the fastest-growing companies, and they do everything through an internet portal. Craig and Monica also talk about the tech arms race and the implications on REALTORS®. Big data and predictive analysis is the collection of massive amounts of information, then using that data to predict what will happen in the future. This stuff already exists in the real estate market, but there are developments that will allow it to work with your MLS. It's like getting coupons on the things you already buy. Artificial intelligence is when a computer is learning your behaviors, and attempting to act like a human. The most common form of this is a chatbot, where a computer is available to respond to clients at any time of the day. In the next few years, we may see where your CRM can basically work as your personal assistant. AI also influences algorithms. This helps both buyers and sellers by providing more detailed searches and descriptions. Craig and Monica talk about some cybersecurity concerns, and what type of things REALTORS® have control over. Most don't realize how many problems they could create in the tech/legal world. Agents often collect more information than they really need. They talk about some of the specific types of information we don't need and encourage REALTORS® to just stop collecting it. PII and wire transfer fraud are the two biggest offenders when it comes to cybersecurity concerns. Letting vendors handle this information can remove you from these situations. Craig talks about some other things you can put into practice to help protect you from data breaches. iBuyers are another facet of technology in the real estate market. The problem with the iBuyer model is that while the sales pitch is awesome, they wrap in other costs in the inspection and closing costs. People who sell their house through an iBuyer are losing about 15% in a transaction. Augmented reality is being used with virtual staging, and virtual reality could be used to do a rendering on a property before anything is even built. While augmented reality is already mainstream, virtual reality will be mainstream in probably the next 10-15 years. The last tech item they talk about is 3D printing homes (contour printing). It's already happening, and the idea is that you can build an entire house all through 3D printing. This would greatly diminish the time spent to build a house, as well as money spent on labor. The major builders are working on this to see how they can build entire communities. Most REALTORS® are scared of the technology, but this stuff will help the business. Don't be afraid to reach out and learn new things — you never know how it will boost your business! Tweetables: "Your relationships are still the best way for you to get business and maintain business, and that's what people want in the real estate business. That's going to be what we carry on into the future as we adapt to these things." — Monica "I think a REALTOR® needs to understand it, they need to learn how to sell against it, and give their customers options and realize it's out there." — Craig Guest Links: https://craiggrant.info https://reti.us Consumer Electronics Show Additional Links: OnlineLearning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses from NAR and its affiliates [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNxBl

Resort and second-home properties can be located anywhere! They are becoming more and more popular in small towns, as well as the coastal cities and mountains. In this episode, Holly Mabery joins Monica to talk about her own experience working with investment and second home clients in Sedona, AZ. She shares ideas for marketing, building connections with buyers, and highlighting what's so special about your community. More and more, real estate is becoming a great leverage tool. Homeownership has expanded to where people have a second home for personal enjoyment, and also more people are choosing to invest in real estate rather than another avenue. A hybrid they are seeing more and more is when people buy a house and can use it for personal use 14 days a year and rent it out the rest of the time, and it still counts as an investment property. This trend is increasingly becoming more popular as a gateway to making memories with family and friends. The resort and second home market has shifted from the mountains or the beach to more small town, slow-paced areas. As an agent, there's an opportunity to accent your local lifestyle that can make a huge difference in marketing. People will always need a place to live, but as agents, we can show people how to live in your market. Showcasing what you love can help build connections with clients. There are a few different options when it comes to financing for investment and second home properties. Working with a local lender is key. For second homes you're typically looking at 20% down, and investment properties are usually 25% down plus an interest rate. Some challenges that come with investment or second homes that are being rented out is that the owner has to be available 24-hours-a-day. In many instances, you have to live within a certain distance of the property. Some unexpected costs to note could be a property manager, furniture in the unit, replacing appliances, etc. The resort/second-home certification goes through making good choices in investment properties. It allows you as the REALTOR® to become a trusted advisor to investors. You'll get an understanding of the financing, as well, so you can help your clients make the best choice for them. Another important thing to be involved in is government in your area. Either get involved yourself or get connected with a group that shares frequent updates about what is going on in the area, so you know how to be proactive with what's going on. If you already involved, maybe you can be that resource for your market/community. Homeownership is the biggest investment someone is going to make in their life. It's a financial, emotional, and family investment. As REALTORS®, if we help them navigate and negotiate, it makes a huge difference. Focus on what you love about living there, and what investors can expect if they live there. Highlight local businesses and bring them to the forefront. Other resources to check out are city parks and recreation, or your county health services. Both usually have different programs depending on what's going on. As you get to know potential clients, you can address their interests, hobbies, and concerns so you can start to assist them in feeling at ease. Holly and Monica talk about furniture in the property. When it comes to furniture in the property, best practice is to do it on a separate bill of sale. The seller needs to get very specific about what they are leaving behind. Sellers need to make sure they remove any personal and valuable items before the property goes on the market. Once the seller creates the list, it needs to be made available to potential buyers. Make sure your separate bill of sale is contingent on a close. Holly talks about some things to keep in mind when working with investment and second-home buyers. It's important to over-communicate, especially since they may not be local. Using programs like Zoom or Google Hangout can be helpful. It also allows you to set up expectations ahead of time. Some things you want to be able to note are what potential buyers can expect to be able to do year-round in your community and what amenities they will be provided (internet service, etc). Holly has also recently started tracking direct flights and doing some reverse marketing to find your feeder markets. One of the things that Holly does is create a lifestyle map around the areas where she has potential buyers. As we start this new decade, embrace what you love about where you live and tell that story every day. Instagram is a powerful medium for advertising what's great about where you live. Guest Links: Hollymabery.com AZheartland.com Additional Links: OnlineLearning.REALTOR for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses for REBAC and REBI classes. [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNBlog.com Additional Bios: Holly Mabery is a third-generation REALTOR

As we approach the end of another year, it's time to start thinking about business strategies and what we can do to boost our business in the new year. In today's episode, Monica speaks with Cheryl Knowlton and Kristy Hairston about some book suggestions for building your brand, personal development, and business strategies. Both guests stress the importance of reading, and with a curated list like this, you'll know right where to start! Cheryl Knowlton Cheryl loves to read! Not only physical books, but Audible is a great hack to get more books in. Both Cheryl and Monica have their book lists on their websites, and you can also check out Goodreads, a social media platform for book sharing. The first book they discuss is Never Split the Difference, by Chris Voss. Chris was the chief hostage negotiator for the FBI, and the book focuses on different types of negotiations. In some cases, you literally can't negotiate for half of whatever is at stake, and this book teaches you the skills to never settle for half of what you want. You can also access Chris' material on YouTube. Cheryl and Monica discuss the idea of a win-win situation if you never split the difference. The book provides scripts and scenarios that can help you navigate different situations. They also talk about the "black swan" as a key to negotiation, and how knowing what the black swan is can change the course of the deal. The next book is Unfu*k Yourself, by Gary Bishop. Though the title is a bit colorful, it is a great personal development book. It helps you be intentional about the things that are hijacking your life. The companion workbook is an aid to help you work through these things and make real changes. The way to make fundamental changes is to make promises with ourselves, and hold ourselves accountable to those promises no matter what. Think and Grow Rich for Women, by Sharon Lechter is a great book about not only how to make money, but also talks about other motivations beyond just making money. Money means different things for different people. It uses the same language and terminology as the original, and has a lot of great quotes and affirmations, especially for women. The last two books they discuss are both from author Sally Hogshead. Fascinate is geared toward understanding branding in corporations. She took this same information and put it into How the World Sees You, which focuses more on branding for individuals. There is also a code in the back of the book for a quiz to determine your primary and secondary advantage, and how to use them. Books allow you to connect with very powerful people without having to be physically with them. Reading can make you a better real estate professional, husband or wife, son or daughter, and all-around human being. Kristy Hairston Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got, by Jay Abraham has 21 ways you can outperform your competition. It focuses on mindset and looking at other industries for principles you can apply to real estate. These steps can help you form your brand around the customer experience. The book also provides tips on how you can get clear on who you are and what you're setting up for yourself. Kristy and Monica go in-depth about the customer experience, and how we can draw on different industries and apply those ideas to real estate, especially getting consistency in your customer experience from open houses to closing gifts. Ninja Selling by Larry Kendall focuses on the flow Kristy referenced. Sometimes we don't have a referral-based business because we aren't "in flow" with them. It focuses on two types of flow, auto-flow and live-flow, and how you can continue to deliver to your current customer base. It will help you identify your "Ninja 9," nine successful habits that are done each week. Kristy talks about how she combines the ideas and principles of the two books mentioned to better suit her business. The book To Sell Is Human, by Daniel Pink is a research-heavy book that breaks down the different layers of information about our careers and industries. There are case studies across several different industries that can help shift the mindset for REALTORS® in how they present themselves and their product. This book is great for people who are looking for thoughtful insight and data. In this business, don't forget to be uniquely you! Do that with a system and a brand for yourself. Guest Links: Goodreads Cherylknows.com Workpurposefully.com Never Split the Difference, by Chris Voss Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life, by Gary John Bishop — the book and the companion workbook Fascinate: How to Make Your Brand Impossible to Resist, by Sally Hogshead How the World Sees You: Discover Your Highest Value Through the Science of Fascination, by Sally Hogshead Think and Grow Rich for Women: Using Your Power to Create Success and Significance, by Sharon Lechter Burn the Hamster Wheel: Stress Management Strategies for Today's Real Estate Professional, b

Today's episode is all about historic homes. These homes have unique architecture and features that set them apart. Monica interviews two different guests about mid-century homes and antique homes. They share information about what REALTORS® should know when it comes to renovating and listing these properties. TJ Pierce — Mid-Century Homes: Homes older than 50 years are now considered historic homes. These mid-century homes are homes that were built in the '50s and '60s, with the more technical definition spanning 1947-1972. These homes followed specific architectural trends (usually a ranch style home). These homes were built so people could stay in them for their whole lives and shared many common features. While the time frame is the biggest qualifier for a mid-century home, TJ shares some of the other common characteristics of these homes. The architect is very important for mid-century enthusiasts. There are two different approaches: mass production and the nuance of an architect-grade home. Builders were putting up homes at a rapid rate for Vets returning from war, as well as more individualized homes for important people and the common person. When it comes to renovating these homes, the best practice kind of falls on two different ends of a spectrum. Some people prefer an untouched home to re-enhance the original features, while others like to keep the structure but bring in new features. If you choose to renovate, you'll get the best premium if you keep renovations era-appropriate. Monica and TJ discuss listing these homes, and whether sellers should renovate before they list it on the market. There are many mid-century experts that can provide tips and ideas for ways to update your home appropriately. As REALTORS®, if you understand mid-century architecture or have an expert who does, it may be worth it to update it before listing. If not, it may be better to let someone else come in and do the work. To market these homes, it may be beneficial to make some connections with other people who already market to the mid-century enthusiast community with other products. It's also important to use the appropriate hashtags on social media. In many markets across the country, if you have a listing that has the mid-century style, find those experts and agents to network with. TJ shares many resources that are linked below that provide great content on mid-century architecture and homes. He also shares why they started their company, and how they seek to help the people in their local market and across the globe. Michelle Drum — Older Homes This portion of the episode focuses on homes that were built in the 1800s and early 1900s. When looking for older houses, it really comes down to structure and stability. Some of the most important structural things to look for when listing an antique house are pest infestation and authentic features. Michelle talks about her own home renovation property, and how she and her husband curated it to be as authentic as possible for the next generation. The story of a property is essential for REALTORS® when it comes to listing these homes. When people are looking for an old home, they're looking for a story, not just a building. As an agent, you can help buyers find the story by going back to look at the deeds or historians to see if you can give a name to the house. It will give it a complexity that other properties don't have. Creating these connections between historians and agents can be very beneficial. Michelle talks about some of the renovation/restoration considerations for older homes. When people want to update an older home with modern amenities, some of the most important things to consider are flooring and color schemes. Michelle shares some best practices for listing an older home. The number of bathrooms is usually an issue — she recommends having an original floor plan, and also one with some proposed changes a buyer could make to make it more family-friendly. You may also want to get a quote for central A/C. Anything to get ambiguity off the table will help the listing. Antique houses can also be hard to photograph, so you want to make sure you consider room size, lighting, etc. It is good to give some of the story in the MLS listing. You can share the rest of the story and history of the property at the showing. Putting your home on the national registry won't necessarily increase the value. If a property becomes part of the city's historic register, it may increase the value a little bit. Michelle shares some of the resources she has for people who want to learn about old homes. Most states have a Historical Preservation Commission, and you can also connect with lecturers and builders to learn more about the architecture and style of these older homes. Everybody should find what they love, and really dig deep to learn as much about it as you can. This will bring in buyers and sellers for your career. Additional Links: OnlineLearning.REALTOR for online educa

One of the most important things that can help your inspections go smoother is to have a good relationship with your home inspectors. This not only benefits you as the REALTOR® but also benefits your client. An excellent REALTOR® and an excellent inspector is a fabulous combination to help create a better experience for buyers. Today's guest, Scott Frederick, joins Monica on the show to talk about how we can foster better relationships between REALTORS® and inspectors, including what to look for in an inspector and communication skills. The U.S. is about 50-50 between states that require home inspectors to have a license and those that don't. Inspectors should be a member of ASHI or NACHI, especially in states that do not require a license. ASHI is the American Society of Home Inspectors, and InterNACHI is the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors. ASHI tends to be more credible, simply because of the guidelines and requirements it takes to become certified. When looking for a home inspector, you should look for at least one of those certifications. Training for home inspectors involves a technical instruction background, but almost as importantly, good communication skills, good grammar, punctuality, and time management are key to becoming a good home inspector. There is usually a mentor/shadow period, where you train with an experienced inspector. As an agent, it's important to do your due diligence to find an inspector to help with the real estate transaction. The most important part of Scott's job is to build the relationship between the client, the buyer, and the REALTOR®. He talks about some of the customer service standards they use on their team, starting from the first call to the systematic inspection of the house. During the inspection, they set up shop, go over what the client ordered in terms of the inspection, and get the expectations of the buyer upfront. Get an unbiased opinion from the beginning so the inspection can be thorough and honest. The way you present yourself from the beginning of the inspection and instill confidence in yourself and your ability will put the client at ease. The inspection is also an opportunity for the client to do their own walk-through and identify anything they are concerned about. Communication is key between inspectors and REALTORS®. Agents need to learn how to be facilitators of information between inspectors and buyers. To be a good communicator, you have to be able to give and receive. As a REALTOR® or an inspector, try to create a good dynamic between you and the other people, so collaborating is productive and easy. As REALTORS® and home inspectors work together over the course of their careers, it creates a camaraderie that leads to good questions and open communication. If there is an issue with the house that comes up during the inspection, it's important to engage the conversation so that the buyer can hear all the information from the inspector themselves. It is all about how you phrase the problem verbally as well as in your report. Scott's team addresses issues in three tiers: 1. Safety 2. Structural Defects 3. Cosmetic Defects. When presenting issues, make sure to offer solutions as well. Whether the agent is at the inspection or not, they are the ones who will be negotiating with the broker. It is important that the inspector leaves thorough comments about any necessary repairs so that the agent can effectively negotiate these. One of the worst habits an inspector can get into is deferring everything to another expert. Agents can help with this by providing feedback to inspectors on what they would like to see. A REALTOR® is just as important in creating a good inspector as an inspector's time in the field. Sometimes it may be a good idea for the inspector to come back after any repairs are made to ensure that they were actually done as the receipt says. Scott does this as a courtesy, but if the relationship is there between the REALTOR® and the inspector, hopefully, something can be arranged at a fair price to provide a level of comfort. When it comes to older homes and inspections, you want to make sure you find an inspector who is knowledgeable about old homes. As a REALTOR®, you can ask questions to make sure you are going to hire a qualified inspector for the home in question. Cosmetic issues are going to differ between old and new homes, and that's something to keep in mind during inspections. When it comes to cosmetics, it comes down to dollars and cents. Depending on cost, cosmetic issues could become larger or more important issues. Scott brings awareness to cosmetic issues but differentiates based on the cost of repair. From there, it is up to the REALTOR® to negotiate price. The final thing Scott reiterates for REALTORS® is the importance of building relationships with inspectors. The more that you know each other and what you want from each other, the better the work relationship is, which ultimately provides the bu

For clients who are in some phase of the divorce process, the house is often the largest asset in the case. As REALTORS® in these cases, you can help your client navigate through the real estate aspects of doing what's best for the family and the property. Laurel discusses her work as a court-appointed real estate expert and shares helpful tips for divorce cases that are also great tips for regular listings. It's important to note that the court has jurisdiction over most things in a divorce case. The first thing that needs to be established is whether the court has made any specific orders regarding the house and the client; the client would be whichever person is on the title. The orders can indicate anything from the list price to certain terms defined. The house often comes into play with other aspects of the case as well. The title company usually disperses the proceeds, but as the REALTOR®, you want to make sure the title company gets a copy of an order that dictates how these should be dispersed. Laurel has been involved in some legal work during her real estate career. In family law, the court and attorneys are accustomed to working with experts. In her work, Laurel is a real estate expert that is appointed by the court to handle the real estate aspect of the case, making recommendations and making sure the court orders are followed. Usually, an agent on the deal would be the court-appointed expert. When you get a client who may be recently divorced, the first step is to do an intake to gather information, like who is and isn't in the house, any court orders, who is on the mortgage, etc. After that, you would generally want to visit the property and do a walk-through; in divorce, there is often evidence of distress. There may be opportunities for improvement so they get the most money. These should always be suggested with discretion and sensitivity for the situation. Asking probing questions to get more information may be uncomfortable, but as REALTORS®, you must own your professionalism. You can't best help your clients without all the information. Proactive communication is especially important in these cases. When it comes to education, it's really important to take the position of not being attached to the outcome. It's not about trying to get them to list the house, it's about giving all the information so the family can make the best choice for them. Communication helps establish trust and neutrality. In Laurel's practice, when they do the intake and the walkthrough, she never meets the clients twice. She meets with the parties separately and will alternate appointments. You want to avoid having too much communication with one client to make it look like you're taking sides. Each situation will be different, but it's important to gather all the information so you are considering both person's needs. Laurel shares some best practice tips for when it comes to communicating through emails. In these situations, it is very common to have pacing issues. One spouse may be ready to sell the house and get everything done, while the other is still grieving the loss of both their house and their marriage. You may have to slow down and get the other spouse on board before you get too far. When getting a lawyer involved, you want to keep them reasonably updated, but don't bombard them with too much communication. Some things to update lawyers on: when the listing agreement has been signed, the terms, once the house is on the market, when the house is in escrow, and when they are ready to close. Don't involve the lawyers unless you absolutely need to. There are some things to prevent early on in a divorce listing. Make sure you know who all is on the title, and make sure the title will respect a Power of Attorney in the situation that the client themselves is unavailable. This is helpful even for a regular listing. You also want to check loan payment amounts that may be affected by previous loan modifications. Laurel recommends ordering a mortgage payoff early on. Knowing how to prevent land mines is key — if you think or know something may be a problem, address it sooner rather than later. Reverse mortgages can be used as a tool in divorce when one person wants to stay in the house or to help a buyer when they want to move into a new house. A spouse who wants to keep the house has to qualify all on their own. With all the expenses surrounding divorce, oftentimes they don't qualify. Laurel is a proponent of not staying married to the mortgage. Reverse mortgages only apply to clients over the age of 62. In normal mortgage situations, you usually will have to refinance to get one person off the mortgage, or sell the house and take the proceeds to find a new living situation. The rules for ownership and how things are dispersed vary from state to state. When it comes to listing agreements, some states take a listing agreement with whoever is on the title. In some states, you also need both parties to sign the

Today's episode explores modern marketing: how we create and share content, who we share it with, and how it's made available to the public. This episode is a recording of the panel Monica hosted at the 2018 REALTOR® Conference and Expo. Guests TJ Pierce, Mor Zucker, Jamie Slough, and Dave Caskey speak about how they have utilized their social media marketing in their businesses. No matter where you are in your business, there will be a takeaway for you to apply to your work. Content can be anything that you want to share, from photos to a blog, to videos; there is something for everyone. Multi-platform marketing uses the content you created and distributes it across several social media platforms. For example, content from this podcast appears on Instagram and a blog, and a video is uploaded to YouTube. Monica talks about some ways you can create content from your listings, and on which platforms you might want to share it. Sharing across several different platforms will allow you to connect with several different audiences and demographics. Advice from TJ: Start with the platform you are most comfortable with, and branch out from there. At Mid-Century Homes, they build their digital library with pictures from their phones and use an app called Canva that allows you to use your own photos to create a content layout. They also use professionally made content like photos, their website, and videos. You can also share other people's content and engage with other businesses on the various social media platforms. This has been especially important for Mid-Century Homes because they've been able to share other content with a niche audience they know will appreciate it. They can engage with their own audience while attracting followers from the audiences of other businesses. TJ talks about how they use the different platforms of Facebook, Instagram, and their website and about how much they budget for it. Some of the live events they have are home tours, Instagram, and a first-time homebuyer class. 45% of their business has been in off-market deals because they knew how to work their marketing platforms! Advice from Mor and Jamie: Don't wait for opportunity — create it! They focus on using marketing and technology to sell homes, rather than selling homes and having to use those tools to do it. They create two main ways: their blog (The Denver Ear) and by using PR and relationships with the media. Being intentional about fostering relationships with the media and creating news in your business is huge in getting your content out there. Jamie describes some of the content they've created, through community events, or stories about properties. When writing these, there always needs to be value for the consumer added. Once you have a press release, you can distribute the content across several platforms, and drive traffic back to your website. Mor talks about The Denver Ear, which is a blog that focuses on community, lifestyle, and business, rather than real estate. When you're selling real estate, you're really selling the community around the property. As your blog gets more exposure, local businesses may start to connect with you about their news. This is a more indirect and long-term strategy, but Mor wanted to create the blog outside of their real estate website to bring people in the back door. The conversion seems to be higher for these people because they've taken the time to navigate to the real estate page from the blog. The most important thing about blogging is that it doesn't matter how often you blog, but each post needs to have high-quality content. Find unique things to write about, and be aggressive about making connections with businesses and media. When it comes to blog content, focus on your interests; people will want you to be their agent because they resonate with who you are as a person. Eventually, you want to start connecting your blog to your real estate business, but there are several ways to get creative about this that aren't necessarily just putting the real estate information on your blog each time you post. Advice from Dave: REALTORS® are connectors; we connect with people and then we connect those people with homes. Across the different platforms, it's important to know your audience. This is not only for what you post but also how you engage with others on these platforms. Dave covers several different platforms and offers suggestions about what is appropriate on each. Quality over quantity — while it is important to get followers, you want to make sure they are the right followers and actual consumers of your business product. Knowing your target audience will help you decide how to prioritize. Dave talks about the distribution of their content; they will post content and then each of their agents will post the same content on their professional pages and they've just increased the chances of people seeing this content. Q&A: You can "reuse" content — maybe you go back to an article

All real estate begins with the land. Today's episode features two guests who are experts in land sales. Jeramy Stephens (Arkansas) & Justin Osborne (Colorado) are both members of the REALTORS® Land Institute (RLI) and join Monica on the show today to talk about how land sales differ from residential sales. They discuss the different types of land and the certification that's available for land agents, as well as some of the important things to note about land sales in the East and the West. Jeramy Stephens has been in land and real estate for many, many years. He is currently the president of REALTORS® Land Institute (RLI). RLI is part of the NAR family and provides expertise, camaraderie, and resources for real estate professionals. It also offers the Accredited Land Consultant (ALC) designation. There are several different types of land: agricultural land, timberland, recreational land, and transitional land. The RLI promotes education to understand different land uses and purposes for these types of lands. Just like in other facets of real estate, there are different specialties in the land business, and they each have their own rules. There are six required courses to get the ALC designation and 104 hours. The three core classes are Land Investment Analysis, Land 101, and Transitional Land. In addition to these three core classes, there are "elective" classes, depending on where your interests lie. A portfolio of $10 million is also required. When looking at the value of land, it's important to consider what it's being used for or what it's been used for in the past. As a residential agent, if someone comes to you with a piece of land, you can ask questions to determine its highest and best use. Then you can direct your client to an expert in one of those areas, who can appraise or assess the land appropriately. Some land properties are comped regionally, so they are compared with other similar properties in neighboring states or regions. When it gets to a specific activity, it needs to be priced as close in proximity as possible. Jeramy's passion is farmland, which tends to be a little bit easier to price than some other types of land property. Despite some of the struggles farmers are facing, the demand for ag land is still quite strong. Farm and ag land are also a potential investment opportunity. There is a lot of due diligence required for farmland, so it's important to know what to do and who to ask when you need help. Residential real estate agents and land agents can work together to meet their clients' needs. If you're not the one to help them, be the one to get them another agent. You want to make sure that as a Realtor®, you are operating in your area of expertise, and referring your clients to someone else when it's not your area of expertise. Jeramy is also interested in developmental or transitional land. This is taking raw land, usually on the outside of a growing community, and figuring out zoning, sewage, water, taxes, etc. This process can take a long time and varies from state to state. These properties can be a win-win for the agent and the community, but it's important to make sure it's done right so everyone benefits from it. There are some new developments in technology in land sales, including better maps and more complete data. Having all of this technology makes things work a lot faster and smoother. The company Jeramy works for offers 360-degree land tours of properties, so clients can see properties on their computers before seeing the land. In the Eastern United States, one of the biggest things to consider is wetlands and water rights. Mineral rights are also important, though maybe more so in the West. There are also many areas in the East that are developing and bringing more people in, and this is especially important for agents who work with transitional land. Jeramy's final word is to remind and encourage REALTORS® that we're all professionals in what we do. Know what you do, what you do well, and what's best for your client! Justin Osborne is joining us from Durango, Colorado. He is currently president of the Colorado chapter of the REALTORS® Land Institute and an RLI instructor. One of the biggest challenges in land real estate is figuring out how to price it. It can be on the market for a couple of years, and sometimes they have to travel over 200 miles to find comps for a similar piece of land. The potential market is pretty vast in the West, but Justin tries to remain within the same state due to changing property values. As a buyer's agent, it is important to do due diligence on a property, including inspections on the property and the infrastructure. Properties need to be brought up to code before closing or handled properly after closing. The permit process in Justin's area is relatively easy, but all the different landscapes will affect how long it takes to get the property ready. Sometimes large transactions get held up because due diligence was not done bef

Today's episode is the final installment of a three-part series that highlights some of the NAR member benefits. RPR® helps REALTORS® provide and analyze data for your clients when they request it. Today's guest, Veronica McManus, is the director of industry relations with RPR®. In this episode, she and Monica discuss some of the benefits of this program for REALTORS® and their clients, as well the many reports available in the system and how to engage with them. Veronica is in her 7th year with RPR®, and she works with MLSs and associations to encourage their engagement and usage of RPR®. She and her team are the connection between RPR® and the REALTORS® that use it. Realtors Property Resource® is a parcel-centric property database that contains over one hundred million property records from over 300 data sources on commercial, industrial, residential, and land parcels across the country. RPR® originated when the NAR noticed that clients were coming to their REALTORS® with this data already. They housed it in a central location so their REALTORS® can provide accurate data to their clients. The public seems to love this data, so it's important to know how you can best engage with the product. For a basic beginning webinar, visit the blog: blog.narrpr.com. One of the key benefits for the RPR® is that once their client comes to them about a house or a piece of property, the REALTOR® can immediately look up the address of the property and access the data. One of the things that sets RPR® apart from accessing information on your MLS is the report section where there are many different reports that can be created, how they can be shared with the consumer, and the quality of data they contain. Some of the reports they have on RPR® are property reports, mini property reports, sellers reports, valuation reports, market activity reports, school reports, and property flyers that can be easily linked to other platforms. They also have neighborhood reports that share economic, demographic, quality of life, and market statistics. The REALTOR® is able to put up to 10 PDF documents into their reports. Veronica describes how we may use some of these reports in our marketing. Many of the reports are very long, but you can go into the report details and pick and choose which information is most pertinent or most appealing to you and your clients. You can go in and create a custom template that will easily generate your reports going forward. This also makes it easier to create a report that suits your clients' needs, in a very short amount of time! This has helped REALTORS® get a client because they are able to connect with them quickly. You have the ability to go into reports and suppress some of the estimated values for values. If you're responding quickly to a lead, they don't necessarily need to have the RVM. This keeps people from getting too far ahead with pricing with the customer. The AVM is the automated valuation model, and the RVM is the REALTOR® valuation model market. This was one of the biggest data points NAR hoped to deliver with RPR®. This can be compared to the data that other places are using, such as Zillow. There are some differences between RPR® and Zillow. To determine the RVM, RPR® uses the averages of three different algorithms and also looks to the MLS for accurate and up-to-date information on active and pending list prices. The RVM also show you details, so you or the client can know which comps were used to estimate the price. The reports are also very helpful to share with your industry partners, as they add value to both you and your partner. The REALTOR® is bringing their wisdom and experience when they interact with the reports within RPR®. They know what is going on in the markets and have often seen the properties, so they are able to change and engage the data in ways other companies are unable to provide. Some of the other tools RPR® has to offer are traffic counts, flood maps, and heat maps. You can also view distressed properties on RPR® and provide resources to those homeowners. Some other ways REALTORS® are using the resources provided by RPR® are while door knocking and during open houses; utilizing the app has been a game changer for many people! When you can have some of the general information available for people asking questions, it creates a strong initial impression and makes the REALTOR® central to the transaction. If you're not using RPR®, now is the time to start! Your competitors are likely using RPR®, and they are closing more business. Visit the blog for more ideas on how to use this free member benefit to save money, save time, and close more deals. Guest Links: NARRPR.com — Realtors Property Resource® Blog.narrpr.com — RPR® blog Additional Links: OnlineLearning.REALTOR® for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses for REBAC and REBI classes. [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] F

Today's episode is the second part of a three-part series that highlights some of the major NAR programs being offered. The Commitment to Excellence (C2EX) program explores professionalism and its application to professional life. Monica and Hagan talk about some key points of professionalism, as well as breaking down the way the assessments work. All of this is so we can improve excellence in our own lives as well as in the industry! The Commitment to Excellence program came from a strategic planning aim to look at what the REALTORS® of the future would look like. Professionalism needed to increase across the association across the country, to continue to keep the industry strong. C2EX is the initiative that gives members a voluntary pathway to the highest level of professionalism in ten key areas of the business. There have been 19,000 members that have signed up so far. The program was designed for REALTORS® at any skill level to come in and learn key points from the ten areas. When you first take an assessment, the program puts together a personalized learning path based on the knowledge you already have and the knowledge you need to gain from the ten areas to be endorsed. Monica and Hagan talk about some of the specifics of the quiz, and why it's important to have an open mindset while working through it. Whenever they present the C2EX program, there is an influx of people who sign up for the program. A key part of the story is marketing and letting people know about it. People seem to enjoy the assessment to figure out strengths and weaknesses, and these assessments could also be done in a large group, focusing on each person's result. It can be an important tool for team building. One of the goals of the C2EX program is raising the bar and raising the goals for REALTORS® around the country. Professionalism is all thinking about the end user and being prepared in each action to make sure the transaction goes smoothly. Some of the traits that C2EX covers are: trust & integrity, client service, and professional reputation. It is meant to help improve everyone in the profession, not just those who are new. Client service includes making sure the client has a copy of all the documents they should've signed and going over the contract with them. Communication is another aspect of professionalism. Getting to know which communication medium your client prefers will go a long way. Take the time to understand how your client best communicates and use that throughout the process. It is also helpful to have one day a week, or something set in stone, to catch the client up on what happened that week. Reputation is another facet of professionalism. We don't often get a chance to redeem ourselves when it comes to our reputation, but you have to keep it in mind so that you keep it untarnished. We have our experience, time, and reputation to offer for our clients. Having a good reputation in your market positively impacts the experience of your client. To manage your reputation online, be careful about what you post. You represent your clients in addition to just yourself. You want to make sure your reputation paints you as someone who is considerate, someone who understands our code of ethics. The Commitment to Excellence program is split into smaller sections, so you can tackle them one at a time. It becomes a lifelong learning tool. You may receive a notification to retake a certification if something in that realm has changed. Trust and integrity are incredibly important for professionalism. Our clients trust us with one of the largest financial transactions they will have in their lives. As agents, we need to look for ways to build trust by staying on top of communication, being prepared, and sharing all options with your client. Put building trust at the forefront of your decision-making when it comes to your client. You also want to develop a sense of trust with your clients, so they feel like you've also listened to them. Hagan and Monica discuss some final thoughts on professional. Some of the things Hagan does are to connect with the REALTOR® when an offer is coming through, and also make sure that your voicemail reflects you as a professional. When it comes down to it, be respectful of your other colleagues in the business. We're all working toward the same end goal for our clients. Log into to take the C2EX assessment: login to www.C2EX.REALTOR®. Choose to be the best you can be in the business. This program will help you sustain your business in a professional manner! Guest Links: TNREALTORS®.com/hagan-stone-2/ Parksathome.com/agents/HaganStone Commitment to Excellence Additional Links: OnlineLearning.REALTOR® for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses for REBAC and REBI classes. [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNBlog.com Additional Bio: Hagan Stone, REALTOR®, ABR, CRS, affilia

Now that you're in the real estate game, what's your plan for your money? What are your plans for retirement? In today's episode, in an interview-style episode, Monica and her guest, Kasey Stewart, talk about defining financial wellness, how to achieve it, and what resources can help you manage your money for the future. In 2017, NAR's president wanted to help REALTORS® prepare for retirement. In a career where they get paid commission checks, planning can be hard for REALTORS®. The Center for REALTOR® Financial Wellness covers several different areas of investment. You can also set goals for yourself and explore the resource library. Kasey shares some statistics about their members. 43% are not preparing for retirement and 42% are not prepared for a financial emergency. What does financial wellness mean? For Monica, it means she is in a place where she doesn't have anxiety about her finances. This includes having reserves, having some idea of retirement, and flexibility and finances to tend to personal or family issues. It's a subjective term depending on your situation — it may be different for everyone. Think about what you need to feel financially healthy. Every form of debt has interest that will compound. Debt can also cause anxiety and might even physically manifest itself. If you're in debt, work on getting out of debt. There are people who can help you get out of debt, but be careful with the help you choose. Once you pay off your debt, it might be a good idea to roll those payments over into another account, maybe for retirement or a savings account. As independent contractors, it's important to keep your business reserves separate from your personal reserves. To create a budget as an independent contractor, write down all of your necessary expenses in your personal life. Also, do this for your business, so you have a number that you know you need to get by each month. At some banks, you can set up different accounts to set aside the money to pay your brokers, your taxes, and other anticipated expenses. To build her reserves, Monica has a business checking account (you could also open a personal checking account for your business funds), and only uses it for business expenses. Monica also uses financial software to help her keep up with her finances. She uses QuickBooks, but there are many different financial software packages you can use. NAR members can get a discount on QuickBooks Self-Employed for $5/month. A couple of ways to build up your reserves are to take a percentage of each closing check and distribute it to your different reserves; if you find you've had a generous season, you can move larger chunks of money. How do we prepare for retirement as independent contractors? Paying for retirement can be difficult if you don't get consistent paychecks. One of the first things you can do for the future is to improve your amount of business today. You need to define what amount of money would make you feel comfortable for retirement. There are also different avenues you can use to fund your retirement: stocks, bonds, IRA's, etc. Investing in stocks can be a good way to start funding an account to purchase real estate down the road. The closer you get to retirement, the more conservative you should be. It would be wise to work with a financial investor that can help you modify for your level of comfort, and also help you understand how your real estate investments play into that. Invest in what you know! You can also determine which type of IRA you might want to invest in. There are several different ways to invest in real estate: buy a rental property for long-term tenants, Airbnb-type rental, commercial properties, or a real estate investment trust. When considering these avenues, think about your tolerance for management and your tolerance for risk. Estate planning is part of the financial wellness program. It's incredibly important to have a will and a Power of Attorney, in case anything should happen to you. For more information, visit financialwellness.REALTOR®. Financial planning is important for people just getting into the industry or people who have been in the business for a while and are starting to look ahead toward retirement. Guest Links: Financialwellness.REALTOR® nar.REALTOR®/REALTOR®benefits Additional Links: OnlineLearning.REALTOR® for NAR Online Education Training4RE.com — List of Classroom Courses for REBAC and REBI classes. [email protected] Host Information: Monica Neubauer Speaker/Podcaster/REALTOR® [email protected] FuntentionalLiving.com FranklinTNBlog.com Additional Bio: Kasey Stewart is the director of Member Development at National Association of REALTORS®, and the program director for the Center for REALTOR® Financial Wellness. Nar.REALTOR®/REALTOR®-benefits-program Nar.REALTOR®/center-for-REALTOR®-financial-wellness

Great customer service is one of the key ways we can set ourselves apart from other people in the industry. Everybody wants (and expects) a great customer service experience. Pete Blank joins Monica on the show today to talk about his customer service background working for Disney. They share ideas about customer service through a discussion of the seven guest service guidelines Disney uses, and fit them into the real estate industry. Now that so much is available online to consumers, customer service in real estate has become that much more important. The face-to-face connection is something clients value and the way we present ourselves and our product contributes to the customer experience. This is similar to the idea at Disney that employees are always in "the show." For real estate, this would involve staging, materials, etc. At Disney, they teach that the relationship between you and the customer has to be number one. Pete discusses a little bit about these guidelines and relates them to the real estate industry. The first one is to 1) Make eye contact and smile. This is perhaps a bit easier in the real estate industry as much of the contact is one-on-one, but make sure you're always presenting a good front when you're meeting with clients, or in a situation where you may be around potential clients. The second is 2) Greet and welcome each and every guest. This one is also applicable for when you are out and about. When you're out in public in your community, it's important to consider that you may be around potential clients. Note how you want to present yourself to someone who knows you're in real estate but you may not be having a direct interaction with. You are your own brand. The next guideline is 3) Seek out guest contact. This one is related to the second guideline in the fact that you may always be around potential clients. In terms of real estate, so many people own homes or want to own homes. There is a general curiosity about the market. As an agent, you can try to share some market research when you're out in public (in appropriate situations). This will help you be top-of-mind for people that you've helped previously or they've heard of you through this sharing of knowledge in different environments. One of the most important reasons is 4) Provide immediate service recovery. Pete shares a story about something he experienced during his time at Disney. What's important here is if a client brings you an issue, we try to fix it with service first. Rather than offering a discount or some sort of bonus item during the time of the transaction with your client, we look for a way to placate the issue with service first. This will make your client feel valuable. These standards (the rest to follow!) are non-negotiable. Big businesses may already have these established, but if you are a solopreneur starting your business, take some time to write down some non-negotiable standards for yourself that you will use to serve your clients. Getting back to the guidelines, number 5) Appropriate body language at all times. As with any industry, when you see employees who look disinterested, this can skew your whole perception of the business. In real estate, this could you be how you look before you meet a seller for a listing. You don't necessarily want to be wrapping up previous business when your new client shows up. Your body language should show your client that they are the most important thing during your meeting. Number 6) Preserve the magical guest experience. We don't want clients to see the nitty-gritty of how things work. This would involved keep the "backstage" parts of processes out of the customer experience. Monica mentions that in real estate there is a line between letting the public know what you're doing (how much time it's taking, etc) and also sharing too much. The important thing is how you're sharing this information. It's okay to express the work you've done, but it's not okay to complain about the process, especially to your client. As a real estate agent, you can provide your clients with some information about all the different things you do for them, so they know you are creating value for them. The last service guideline is to 7) Thank each and every guest. At Disney when you leave for the night, people are stationed on the way to say thank you for visiting and provide salutations. In real estate, the close of the transaction is not always the end. You want to make sure you close the transaction with a thank you. This differs from agent to agent — some may prefer different gestures of gratitude. An important part of the close of a transaction is a review or a post-event survey. Some things to keep in mind are the length — you don't want it to be too long or too involved; testimonials are usually a good bet because customers can put their own stamp on it. Even calling it a testimonial rather than a review, may get better results and more response. If you have an exceptional expe

First-time homebuyers are a niche market among all buyers. They all have in common that they have never bought a house before, so the processes involved are new to them. So much of the journey in working with first-time buyers is about educating them and asking better questions to understand where they are and what they need to move forward. In today's episode, Monica and her guest, Rich Sands, discuss many ways that we as agents can help our clients who are first-time homebuyers. Working with buyers and sellers are two different ends of the same spectrum. Having systems are true for working with both; you need effectiveness and efficiency. Thirty-three to 39 percent of buyers are first-time homebuyers. Some challenges that first-time homebuyers face in today's market is that mortgages are harder to get and prices have gone up. The main thing that makes first-time buyers unique is that they have never done this before. As an agent, you have to have an educator mindset. For many first-time homebuyers, you have to figure out what the money situation is. Will they be paying cash or have you arranged for financing? Most will finance their first property, and you can usually find properties that are less than or equal to the cost of renting. One of the challenges of being an agent is working with people from different generations. Each one poses a different set of needs and desires. What is important for agents is finding a good lender for your clients. When looking for lenders, look for lenders who do the products that are most beneficial for first-time homebuyers (HomeReady and Home Possible®). You want someone who is able to effectively implement these programs, not just someone who knows about them. Some of the associated costs with owning a home are the transaction costs — closing cost, fees, etc. — as well as maintenance costs like electric and cable bills or regular service. A good idea for agents is to have a checklist of some of the other costs homeowners have in addition to their mortgage. This will help your clients be prepared for all costs so they aren't blindsided. As we mentioned before, first-time homebuyers are not all young. There are first-time homebuyers from a wide range of ages; with that comes a wide range of experience, situations, and financial background. There are systems we can use to inform our clients. We can help explain the process of buying a home, both looking for one and then writing the contract. They also need help with financing and understanding the market. One of the best things we can do as a REALTOR® is to understand what they want and what they're trying to accomplish. Working with first-time homebuyers also requires a lot of patience. Being a great listener and a great asker of questions is crucial to understanding what your clients want. The three most important questions you can use to clarify are "What do you mean?," "Why is that?," and "What else?" When we give ourselves permission to slow down and really be with our clients, we will be able to hear them better and determine their needs. An agent also has to be a great explainer. They have to be able to take any aspect of the process and make it concise and understandable and present it in a way that works for the recipient. Another requirement is that an agent be technologically flexible. It's also important to have strong leadership qualities. If you are someone who really enjoys helping people and wants to help first-time homebuyers, you can market to your sphere of influence to find those buyers. As a REALTOR®, it's important to be aware of what's important to different generations, so when you're introduced to them and you want to move into something new, you've already learned about some ways to adapt. Another way to find first-time buyers is to make sure you have a good website and have a social media presence. You can find the right platform based on your skill set; if you can write, make a blog. If you have a personality, maybe think about video. And if you have a lot of information, maybe the podcast route is the way for you. You can get started by sharing to a wider audience your answers to questions from clients. As a REALTOR®, we have to be the person that our buyers need. It's not necessarily changing who we are, but being flexible so that we can understand and accommodate first-time homebuyers. Instead of thinking about them as a transaction, think of them as people who are going through one of the most fundamental aspects of the American dream. Guest Links: Mental Toughness Training for Sports: Achieving Athletic Excellence, by James E. Loehr http://richsandsseminars.com Guest Bio: Rich Sands has been a teacher his whole life. He started out as a high school teacher and a running coach. He became a REALTOR® and also the Director of Education of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Colorado. There isn't a time when Rich Sands doesn't remember leading a class full of students. For fifteen years he

No matter what the stage of your business, you can always get started using video in your business. There are several ways to consider using video in your business: to film an intro, open houses, to go live on Facebook, or connect with local businesses. Monica's guest, Jeremias "JMan" Maneiro, joins her on the show to discuss these different ways to use video in your business, as well as what equipment to use. All of these discussion points can help you improve and strengthen your connections with your clients. As we've entered into 2019, it is a time of video. It is a great way to build rapport with your clients and get to know them before an initial meeting. Community video is a great place to start. You can share things about restaurants, amenities, accessibility; you want to make the communities where you live and sell appealing to others. Another way to do community videos is to interview business owners and share it with the people. This not only helps you but also helps promote the business itself; it's a win-win! You can also stream live events going on. An even easier place to start may be listing videos. You already have all the content and the listing, and it could be a great way to do the marketing. JMan does a "coming soon" video where he does a live walk-through of the home and shares it on his business page. Everyone has equal access to the listing, and the clients can see when agents leave comments on the video, which boosts the quality. You do have to be careful when you do Facebook live videos — be strategic about how you are "conducting business" between personal and business pages. You also have to respect your clients' privacy. It is the same as when you're staging for photographs — you want to make sure only things that should be on display are on display. There are options for more formal videos. Animoto and iPhoto are great applications where you can import images and videos to produce a stylized video. You don't have to be in these videos, but you should brand it so people know who you are and where you are. More recently, drone video has entered the video marketing strategy. They can provide some really awesome shots but it may an instance where you want to hire a professional to help you. There are so many different things the drone allows you to see. Some of the most popular business videos are virtual open houses. This allows you to take interested buyers on a virtual tour of the house and also leaves the option to provide feedback or questions via some sort of form, so you are reacting to the video you just saw. This also allows for live engagement. Nearly all social media platforms have the "story" feature — these are a GREAT way to start! They are short clips, but they also only stick around for 24 hours, so there's a little bit less pressure. These story videos encourage you to keep your message to-the-point, as well as get frequent practice with pretty little effort. The goals of your videos should not necessarily be the number of likes, but rather about connecting with your audience (quality over quantity). You can work to create custom audiences, so the people that are seeing your videos have really been tuned into your videos previously. Now that you know all the benefits and different avenues for video, how can you incorporate it into your business? One thing to expect is that you won't be happy with every (or maybe any!) take. It takes time to get used to how you look and sound on video and one thing Monica recommends is to give herself one take, even if it's not live. Each video is a learning opportunity, so as you get started, you can learn as you keep producing more videos. One of the beauties of video in our culture is that it does allow for you to be authentic and gives room for your human mistakes. One thing JMan has is a quick introduction video for his team. He has a small team, but a short introduction video allows clients or even other agents you may be working with to put a name with a face so they can get to know the whole team, rather than just you. They can feel like they are connected with the team at all points of the transaction. You don't need to have a ton of fancy equipment. If you have a smartphone, that's a good place to start. There are some additional lighting options to enhance what your phone does. Next is the audio; they make external microphones. The lavalier is a style that both JMan and Monica talk about to get better-polished videos. You can use apps and tools to get better angles, and there are also devices such as gimbals that act as a tripod so you don't have to recruit others to help. One final type of video is the Matterport. This is a camera that does a high-res 360-degree scan of every room in the house and creates a virtual, immersive, 3D experience. If you're ready to get started on video, just remember to be you. Be authentic, and focus on building relationships. Guest Links: Jmanseminars.com YouTube JManSeminars.com Instagram.c

In today's episode, Monica and Marion Napoleon talk about helping buyers with new construction — a topic that is important to both of them. The population in America is growing and demographics are changing.There are more single family homes as people are marrying later and divorces at all age levels create a need for more separate housing. Another factor is that people are living in more multi-generational housing situations. This together has created a general need for more housing. They explain some aspects of the process, how you can provide value as a real estate agent, and some tips for custom builds. Hopefully, this episode will help you understand why they love helping buyers with new construction, and why you should, too! Buyers tend to like new construction because it gives them options. They are not worried about multiple offers and perhaps, most importantly, they are able to customize their homes however their budgets will allow. A lot of agents shy away from new construction, but it can be great for commission and helps to boost earnings. There is also a team that comes with new construction — a real estate professional, a sales agent, and a construction manager. All of these people are here to help the client get a new house. One of the most important things for new agents is to get to know your area. Make note of what's around you and connect with the new home agents so you can learn their processes and their products. You want to build up a "toolbox" so you can help your buyers make the right decision. Both Monica and Marion organize the information they collect into a Dropbox or Google Drive, as a buyer's book. That way all the information is consolidated and easy to share with your clients. There are several options when it comes to the payment. With home builders, there is already a real estate commission set aside for REALTORS®. This is something to educate and explain to your buyers up front, so they understand that it's set aside whether they use it or not. As an agent, you can communicate with the builder and let them know what types of properties you might be looking for with your new buyers. If you come into new construction in the middle of the transaction, it's not too late! If you know that your client has started looking, you know that the interest is there, and you can do your research on other areas and show them some other options. If they want you to be involved, you can be. Don't walk away anywhere in the transaction, because you can still provide value. As buyers' agents, there is a lot of value you can bring to a new construction transaction. As real estate professionals, you bring additional global knowledge to the transaction. You can present yourself as a consultant for the entire process, not just the new construction piece. This is especially important when it comes to the contract — you want to make sure you go through the whole contract with your client to make sure everything is understood and how the client wants it. If you are involved, you can troubleshoot proactively, rather than learning about problems once they're a big problem. When a big problem occurs, that is when buyers' agents really show their value. You become an advocate for their clients and will go to the builders on their clients' behalf. As a professional, you can mediate the issues and also find other options. A home inspection is a must for new construction. When you get the inspection, don't sign until everything that needs to be corrected on the inspection actually gets corrected. The inspection should ideally happen right before the walkthrough with the builder. Then you can bring the list to the walkthrough, and the builder can fix what needs to be fixed or provide a good explanation (in writing) as to why it can't be fixed. When looking at builders, you can direct buyers to do their own research so they feel confident in their choice. A great resource for consumers is the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Usually, they can see for themselves the quality of the construction, but you can also help ensure the process goes smoothly regardless of who they go with by encouraging an inspection (or inspections) along the way. Custom builds can be a great option if you have the finances, the time, and the creative vision. The process of the custom build can be very overwhelming, because you have to find a floor plan, and also often have to find your own builder. The biggest thing to consider with a custom build is cost — the client is paying for every single thing they choose. You also have to consider the land involved, as well as working with the county/city for building permits, etc. Another thing to consider as an agent is the payment on custom builds. You want to make sure these terms and agreements are negotiated and agreed upon up front. The commission often becomes a line item, and as an agent, you want to cover all your bases. One of the last thoughts from Marion is to really

There have been some very significant changes made to the tax codes that are effective this year, 2018. In this episode Monica is joined by Dale Carlton, Jr., who has worked in real estate since the mid 1990s and has been an attorney since 2001, about how the new tax laws affect: real estate professionals, their businesses, and their clients. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 provides the opportunity for people who made the same money in 2018 that they made in 2017 to see a reduction in the amount of tax they will have to pay. Currently, we all pay according to marginal tax rates — everyone falls in a tax bracket. Each of these tax brackets is going to be reduced. There will be some differences in deductions, and there is also something called qualified business income deduction — a deduction on profits. The first thing to note is that the marginal tax rates have been lowered, and overall the amount of tax you pay on your taxable income will be a few percentage points less. Dale talks about some of the implications of this as well — there will likely be a decrease in the number of itemized deductions filed. What this means for real estate agents is that people will no longer have an advantage by owning real property as a home, because the standard deduction will exceed the amount of their mortgage interest and their other taxes owed. This corresponds to Section A on the 1040 form. By raising the standard deduction, they removed some of the deductions we had previously. In the loss of the standard deduction, we lose of some of the aspects of the deduction regarding living in the same residence for two of the past five years. They also maximized the amount you could deduct of state and local income taxes along with real estate taxes and maximized the amount you could deduct from those groups to $10,000. There are essentially four deductions that are still allowed: charitable contributions, home mortgage interest deduction, state and local income tax and real estate taxes combined, and then any medical expenses above 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. The $10,000 max of the state/local income tax and real estate can be added to charitable contributions, home mortgage interest, and medical expenses; if all of those added together are less than $24,000, you'll want to take the standard deduction. If they are more, you would keep them itemized. The home mortgage interest deduction includes your primary residence and a second home. You could write off the interest for these two as long as it was acquisition indebtedness. The two changes that most agents need to be aware of is that they did away with personal exemptions. In 2018, there are no exemptions for any person, all are removed. They have, however, amended the rules regarding the child tax credit. They have doubled the child tax credit and increased the phase-out limit to start at $200,000 for single filers and $400,000 for married filing jointly. For further clarification on the deduction for people who had owned a home for two out of the last five years, this is still intact in the way that we're used to it. This is the profit of a sale on a principal residence. As long as you've lived in it for two of the previous five years, you could take up to $500,000 worth of gain and not have to pay tax on that gain. This was advantageous for real estate agents and investors. Qualified Business Income Deduction: if you have a minor that can work for you in your business, they can get paid up to $12,000 without having to pay taxes. This is also a business expense you won't have to pay taxes on. There are some rules with this deduction that will affect how we take our money. Everything changed in August — a lot of smaller business owners went to bat to protect them with these new tools. Instead of a tax bridge, you get 20% off your taxable profit, with up to a 25% qualified business deduction. If your taxable income is below the new thresholds, you will still qualify for this qualified business income deduction. Dale discusses even further some of the implications of the changes on this tax. To make sure you are getting the qualified business deduction, you must get in with your accountant before the end of the year to make sure you're set up correctly. You will also have to set up a corporation so that you can pay part of your money as salary and receive the other part as dividends from your company. Having your finances for your business in a separate account is crucial -— you can get some good software, and you can run all your finances through the business account. Running your profit and loss for your accountant will be that much easier if your accounts are separated. Keeping better records will save you and your accountant a lot of time. There were some changes in some of the ways business expenses are being looked at. Previously you could get a deduction on entertainment expenses, and now that is zero. There is discussion happening in regards to the 50% meal d