SCARPA NAMED AS NEW MANAGER AT RE/MAX CLASSIC BASKING RIDGE

(January 28, 2010) – John Bendall, broker/owner of RE/MAX Classic Group Realtors, announces that Anthony Scarpa has been named Manager of the RE/MAX Classic office in Basking Ridge, NJ.

“We are thrilled to welcome Tony to our RE/MAX Classic team and to have him in charge of our Basking Ridge operation,” Bendall said. “Not only does he bring 30 years of experience to the job, but he also has an extensive background in several key real estate market segments.

“This move clearly demonstrates our ongoing commitment at RE/MAX Classic to give our Realtors the best support possible in the industry to help them capture more market share,” Bendall continued.

During his career, Scarpa has served as a vice president of three different REO divisions, as a branch office manager and as a broker/associate. He is a certified specialist in such areas as relocation and luxury home marketing as well as in land and new construction, the segment in which he got his start in 1980.

Scarpa, who also a New Jersey registered builder, has amassed a total sales volume of more than a quarter-billion dollars over the past three decades and has won numerous state and national awards as a top-producing real estate professional. In addition, he has wide-ranging knowledge in both the foreclosure market and in lender relations.

The RE/MAX Classic Group Realtors office in Basking Ridge is located at 47 South Finley Avenue (ZIP 07920) and can be reached at (908) 766-9300.

In addition to its Somerset County-based offices in Basking Ridge and nearby Branchburg, RE/MAX Classic Group Realtors has operations in Berkeley Heights, Union County, and in West Milford, Passaic County. You can learn more about RE/MAX Classic by visiting their Web site at www.classicgroup.remax-nj.com.

This week at Classic- The weather is great, and the news seems to be brightening also!!!

Housing prices down again, but…

Here we go again with more confusing statistics – but this time it may actually be telling a story. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of 20 major cities fell for 31st straight month, but for the first time since October 2007, the annual rate is not a record low. The index fell 18.6% from February 2008, compared with a 19% year-over-year decline in January, and was also down 2.2% from January. The index has not recorded a price rise since July 2006 and has fallen 30.7% since that peak. However, the rate of decline slowed, with the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index not hitting a record low for year-over-year drop for the first time since October 2007. This hardly sounds like news to break out champagne on, and it’s not. But it is another indication that we’re scraping along near the bottom. As IHS Global Insight economist Patrick Newport says, “We believe that the bottom is at hand and that sales will begin turning in the second half of this year.” As previous recession’s show, demand for new homes does not evaporate altogether, even in the hardest of times.” Guess we’ll see.

Consumer confidence up…
Housing prices being down-but-not-too-far-down is not the only indication of a bottom to the economy either. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index climbed to 39.2 this month from an upwardly revised 26.9 in March – the highest since November 2008. Consumers’ assessment of present-day conditions improved moderately, with those claiming business conditions are “bad” easing to 45.7 percent from 51.0 percent, while those claiming business conditions are “good” rose to 7.6 percent from 6.9 percent. Consumers expecting business conditions to worsen over the next six months declined to 25.3 percent from 37.8 percent, while those expecting conditions to improve rose to 15.6 percent from 9.6 percent in March. “The sharp increase in the expectations index suggests that consumers believe the economy is nearing a bottom, however this index remains well below levels associated with strong economic growth,” said Lynn Franco, director of the industry group’s Consumer Research Center. Notice the caveat there? Confidence is still in the pit without a handhold, but at least it’s leaping for the edge.

I was just asked by one of our agents if other agents were having a difficult time in our current market. To me the market is a mindset, those who are doing very well right now have adapted to the market and have a mindset to succeed. They are not listening to others who complain about the market or are waiting for the 2005 market to return.
Here are some words of wisdom from my friend and mentor Larry Kendall from The Group in Colorado. For those who have taken the CRS class on Ninja selling you will recognize him as the creator. Have a great week and dance in the rain!

Are You Dancing In the Rain?
“Stop waiting for the storm to end… and start learning to dance in the rain.”

Are you waiting for the market to improve or have you made the shift to the new market? Despite the downturn in home sales and prices, I am seeing many Realtors having their best years ever! What are they doing that the others are not? They have learned to dance in the rain. They are “thriving it out” versus “riding it out.” It starts with your mindset.

Thriving Realtor Mindset:
• The old market isn’t coming back.
• I’m thriving in this market.
• I’m learning to “dance in the rain.”
• I’m making the shift: new mindset, new skills and new actions.
• There is always a market. I just need to find it.

For those who are waiting for the old market to return, forget it! It’s not coming back. This is my 36th year in real estate and I have seen a lot of cycles. Markets come back, but they never come back in the same form as before.

And the cycles are a lot slower than people realize – usually 5 to 10 years or longer. The record is probably the Hawaii market of the 80’s and 90’s when investors overheated that market. The peak to trough to peak for home prices was 13 years!

So, stop asking, “When will the market return?” Get over it and make the shift. It starts with your mindset. Your income will start rising when you adopt this new mindset.

I was visiting recently with Karen Levine, a wonderful Realtor in Denver, Colorado. She told me she just had a fabulous year in 2008, up substantially from 2007. Since the market was much worse in 2008 than 2007, I asked her, “What did you do differently.” She said, “I shifted my mindset to THRIVING versus just surviving and that made all the difference.”

I notice that Realtors who have learned to dance in the rain possess three key ingredients:

• The right mindset
• The new skillset
• The effective actions

Wednesday- Branchburg office meeting 10am.
Thursday- Berkeley Heights- Brent Franklin seminar on listing appointments
Thursday- Bronx- Yankee Opening Day…

Remember to sign up for the RE/MAX Rally ASAP it’s on the 23rd!!

Minutes Matter!

When it comes to prioritizing tasks, we could read hundreds and hundreds of books on time management, blocking time, and project management. Here’s a way to keep yourself accountable on a daily basis…but before I really get into the depths of this, let me explain WHY you should be accountable to yourself on a DAILY basis.

Look it as if you are running a marathon and business, as well as life, is a marathon. You wouldn’t start off the race by running as fast as you can to the first mile marker would you? Of course not. But this is so often what a person does when they start a job or start a new company or start a new task. Especially after listening or attending any motivational speaker or seminar.

You also wouldn’t look at the race as 26.2 miles. But people often look at starting their own business or a long term task as too daunting so they give up.

To be the most successful, you would take one step at a time. Successories sells a lot of posters that say, “The Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with Just One Step,” but how many abide by this simple rule of dedication and determination. It’s as simple as look at the space in front of it and fill it. That’s what you are doing on a daily basis. You are looking at the tasks that need to be done, then doing them one by one. Here’s a phrase for your notebook, door, computer screen, etc: MINUTES MATTER! MINUTES MATTER!!! Make your working minutes matter more and you will make your personal time minutes matter more.
And here’s how…

You’re going to do a minimum of 5 things per day. These are the IMPORTANT, but not necessarily URGENT items.

Assign values in the following manners:
40 points to the #1 most important thing you HAVE to do TODAY (Urgent and Important).
30 points to the #2 most important.
20 to the #3 most important.
10 to the #4 most important.
+10 for the #5 most important thing you need to do.

Let’s analyze the beauty and simplicity of this system:
First, how often have you avoided that huge task when you KNOW you have to get it done? Here’s my theory: If sometime during the day, you know that you are going to have to swallow a frog, swallow the frog in the morning. Get it done. Sounds simple, because it is. Get your 40-pointer done by 10 a.m. It’s NEVER as bad as you think it is!

Secondly, save something fun or from outside your business element for the +10 activity. For instance, my +10 today was to schedule meeting for drinks with 2 of my friends for Tuesday. These are the icing on the cake to a good day. Speaking of cake and icing. A warning: Don’t make the +10 a food item. Don’t promise yourself, “If I get the Big 4 done then I’ll treat myself to an ice cream.” Make the +10 task fulfill a need in another area of your life: Family, Relationships, Health, etc.

Strive to get 110 points per day.

Start each day or the night before by assigning your 5 tasks these points totals.

What five tasks are you going to do tomorrow? Please write them below:

40
30
20
10
+10

Now, what if you don’t get one of them done for one reason or the other? Well, if you don’t get one done, it automatically goes to the 40 spot. Period. If you have to get up 10 minutes earlier, if you have to drive downtown to get your oil changed, if you have to hire a carrier service, WHATEVER IT TAKES, GET IT DONE.

Some people will say, “But I’ve got more than 5 things to do each day. What do I do?” Two words: Do them. What happens when you do this system is you become very focused. The things that need to be done get done and then you are on such a roll that you continue on to have a very productive day. The key is to get started on the right track. This system does that for you.

Another helpful hint for implementing this: Right now, to the right of this page, write down everything you need to do. Every from “I should do ” or “I need to do “, just start writing until the brain is empty.

Then take the top 5 for tomorrow. Those 5 should have the biggest impact on your business or life. Assign them values from 40 to +10 and get started. Write them in your Palm Pilot, your laptop, in your Day Planner, on a piece of paper on your desk, on a post-it, on your hand, somewhere and get started. Put them the same place every time.

This simple system allows you to keep marching. A day full of small steps creates a year of major achievements. Remember, MINUTES MATTER! Take advantage of every moment.

Tuesday & Wednesday- all day seminar in all the offices for the Distressed Property Designation.

Friday- Basking Ridge meeting at 10am.

Next Wednesday- Branchburg meeting 10am

April 23rd- RE/MAX Sales rally

Article that is timely with our 2 day sessions this week.
RISMEDIA, March 30, 2009-There are legions of agents who seem to think that they will have discovered the proverbial pot o’ gold if they are fortunate enough to have a bank or banks hand them their asset recovery properties to sell. This is definitely a case where one should be careful what they wish will happen. While many properties have been foreclosed and will be hitting markets in droves (depending where you work,) carrying the process from acquisition through to closing is no easy task. From a personal perspective of one who managed departments where as many as 250 properties were in inventory at any given time, be assured that one needs excellent organizational skills, a strong support team surrounding you, vendors that are reliable and skilled and a broker that fully supports and indemnifies the actions of the agents and/or staff under the E&O insurance in order to manage REO’s (real estate owned).

Before an agent agrees to take over a foreclosure property for a bank, they must ensure that they understand fully what the bank requires of them.
Following is a list of questions/issues to which answers are essential:
- Does the bank expect the agent/company to pay vendors directly for regular maintenance and utilities and then bill the bank in one itemized monthly invoice? Bills may include utilities, lawn care, needed repairs, clean out, securing the property and the like. If the bank wants the agent/broker to pay invoices, it is incumbent on the broker to set up an account for these payments. This account will have to maintain a certain amount of cash since the bank may require proof of assets. In addition, the account must comply with regular auditing practices. It is important to note that even when the bank is invoiced monthly, it could take four weeks or more to receive reimbursement. Cash flow issues are often deal breakers for companies who are on tight budgets.

- Does the bank require the broker of record to prove they are bonded? In the event there is an emergency on a property such as a freeze-up, can the broker assure the bank that it will be taken care of quickly? That is not to say that the bank will not have insurance on the property. For example, it may be that the incident is shown to have been a result of negligence on the part of a vendor hired by the agent to winterize the property. There are many reasons that a problem ends up being shown to have been related to negligence. It is the nature of managing vacant properties. Some E&O companies will not indemnify REO properties unless they are made aware that the agents handling the properties are correctly trained to do so.

- What will the bank require from vendors hired by the agent/broker who will be performing services on bank homes? Banks may ask for proof that the vendor has a current license, is bonded, has the equipment to handle the jobs asked of them, has references, etc. The bank will likely ask the agent to provide a list of vendors who work for them and are available 24/7 as needed to work on the homes. Even if they don’t ask for the list, the company had better have one.

You may pick up a property that has to be secured immediately at 5 p.m. on a Friday night in the middle of winter. The bank is not going to say, “Oh, no problem. You have dinner plans at 7 p.m.? Well, you go and have a ducky time. We’ll turn the house over during regular business hours on Monday.” Always be prepared for the worst. If you don’t have a plumber who will winterize quickly or a locksmith who will secure immediately, what then? Big problems, that’s what. The strength and reliability of your vendor list is key to your success as a REO specialist.

There are times that a property may be given to an agent and the property is not vacant at the time of acquisition by the bank. The bank expects the company to be able to rid the home of occupants before securing it. Does the agent/company understand the process for “cash for keys?” If not, neither is ready for the tasks that may be required by banks.

- Does the company have a standardized training module for agents who may work on a foreclosed home? It is tough to imagine that any bank will give a property to a company where there is only one agent who knows the ropes. No one can know when someone must cover for an absent agent. An emergency on the agent’s part is no excuse for not being able to care for the home.

The bank will want everything done in duplicate and often triplicate on standardized forms. For example, if an estimate is needed for a repair and the bank asks for three bids, those bids had better be synergistic and easy to compare. There is no time for oranges and apples when it comes to approving a bid. Creating forms for billing the client, generating estimates, comparing bids, etc. is an important component for ease of communication with the powers to be at the bank or the bank’s representative.

While the reader may see these points, and these are just a sample of what is important to know, as over the top if the company is only handling a property here or there, they are not. Working REO properties is a specialized field rife with pitfalls along the way. It would be nothing short of sophomoric on the part of anyone to assume they could “wing it” and just handle things as they arise. While banks who handle many properties know what to require of their brokers, on occasion a local S&L or credit union may have a home or two that they want to entrust to a local agent/broker. It is the agent’s/broker’s responsibility to guide the client in such instances. In the final analysis, the buck stops with the company and the broker/owner.

Setting up an asset recovery division requires thought, planning, financial and personnel resources and a willingness to go the extra mile time and again. In the final analysis, even when the bank is paying an acceptable marketing fee to the agent, the work required to bring the home through to closing is substantial, and many hours of effort will be expended in the process. So, think carefully before taking the plunge into the world of REOs.