Mark your calendars for September 16-18, 2009, when the IAR Convention & Expo returns to the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center.
This year over 1,000 REALTORS® and industry professionals took advantage of the networking and business opportunities at the IAR Convention, your best value for Illinois REALTOR®-specific education including two state-certified continuing education (CE) options.
See you in 2009!
“Next time we’re enlisting the help of the secret service,” joked IAR’s Political Fundraising Coordinator Joni Bergschneider after the cardboard cutouts of presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama were stolen from the IAR Expo sometime Thursday night (or early a.m. Friday, hotel cameras are still checking).
The straw poll fundraiser for the REALTORS® Political Action Committee was a popular Expo stop for REALTORS® who wanted to get their picture with the candidates and buy a vote for their favorite candidate with a donation at any level to RPAC, which gives money to political candidates who support the real estate industry and REALTOR® issues on the state and national level.
In the end, McCain fans raised $48.02 dollars for RPAC to Obama fans’ $46 dollars for a total donation of $94.02 to RPAC. Thanks to all who posed with the candidates and gave to RPAC.
Don’t forget to vote for real on November 4!
An Obama fan poses with the candidate.
By Ann Londrigan
Apparently it now takes just 7 seconds for someone to form an opinion based on first impressions, said communications consultant Stacey Hanke in her session “Speak to Be Heard! Boost Your Earnings Potential as an Effective Communicator.”
Hanke shared research that shows 55% of that first impression comes from your visual cues (what the listener sees, your body language); 38% comes from your voice (the inflection, variety and projection) while just 7% comes what what you actually have to say.
“In this challenging market you must understand that people sell to people,” said Hanke, president of 1st Impression Consulting, Inc. based in Chicago with clients ranging from Coca Cola to the U.S. Army. “Perceptions are reality. You determine the perception the listener creates in their own minds by the way you communicate. They key to getting your message across is to gain trust and believability.”
Hanke said the stats do not imply that what you have to say is not important. It’s clearly very important to share good information with your clients and prospects, but your message will have little impact if you’re not believable. Through a series of exercises REALTORS® in the crowd learned about proper posture including how to stand sit and move to create a good impression. Hanke said “gesturing” with your arms and hands show confidence and can effectively emphasize what you have to say. She warned against fidgeting with your hands, pens or other items you are holding that can be distracting and may be perceived as lack of confidence.
“The most powerful skill you have is the ability to pause and take a relaxing breath,” says Hanke. She coached REALTORS® in an exercise to eliminate filler words that become distracting to listeners. The most common include uh, um, so, like, okay, actually, basically, well, and, but, you know and however.
Silent pauses instead of these filler words give the listener a chance to hear, understand and absorb your message, said Hanke. Pausing invites the listener to share in the conversation. It can also create drama and heightened anticipation when you pause before or after a specific point that you want a listener to remember.
And eye contact is key. You should not speak to your notes or to your PowerPoint.
“The relationship with your listeners begins with eye connection,” said Hanke. “When speaking to two or more clients, complete one sentence or thought with each person then move on and take your time to pause when you move your eyes from one person to another.”
By Ann Londrigan
Economist John Tuccillo, president of JTA Associates and former chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS®, told the packed crowd in the closing session of the IAR Convention that the housing market is ahead of the rest of the economy.
“Over 90 percent of residential real estate markets have bottomed out, some are still bleeding, but most have hit the bottom and the foreclosure numbers still coming out are old numbers, what’s happened in the past,” said Tuccillo. “But it the housing market’s recovery will be slower that it should have been due to the stalled economy and the problems in the financial sector.”
He’s optimistic that the government’s response to the financial crisis (which he says started nearly three years ago, leading up to the Fannie/Freddie bailout and now this tumultuous week on Wall Street) will work itself out like the government measures that warded off financial collapse during the savings and loan crisis in 1985. What’s different now, says Tucillo, is the cost of this bailout is higher. In the ’80s, S&Ls were “little guys” not even trading on the stock market. What we have now with Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG, Freddie/Fannie–major financial institutions–is the cleanup will be more costly and take longer. And while the S&L crisis involved criminal wrongdoing, the problems we’re seeing now involve “the stupidity of people who should have known better.”
“No one should get an option ARM, ever,” said Tuccillo. “Few should qualify for zero down. Few should qualify for an interest only loan.”
What are the consequences then for REALTORS®? How will this affect business?
Tuccillo says there are two major effects. One, credit is drying up and it will be much more difficult to qualify buyers. Credit that’s available is going to bailout the financial sector. REALTORS® will have to work a lot harder to get buyers qualified.
“There will no longer be cheap loans,” said Tuccillo. “You will be forced to document everything: employment history, credit history, credit score. You will have to have money for a downpayment. Isn’t that revolutionary?”
The second effect for REALTORS® and all American consumers is higher prices. Tuccillo explained that the federal government has pumped $100 billion of liquidity into the economy and “it has to comeout somewhere.” He says ultimately this heavy-handed move, intended to fulfill the central bank’s mission of ensuring the nation’s financial stability, will result in higher prices and higher interest rates of upwards of two points higher. He advised REALTORS® to watch the Fed’s moves in the next six months to keep inflation in check.
Regarding industry fundamentals, Tuccillo said look at jobs. “People without jobs don’t buy houses or go to restaurants or shop.”
He said REALTORS® should look at the job trends in the county to see if jobs are increasing or decreasing and this will be an indicator for the housing market. [Job statistics are published by the Illinois Department of Employment Security http://www.ides.state.il.us/]
The good news?
“This will not be another Great Depression because of the demographics,” said Tuccillo. “The boomers are still in the marketplace for second homes and retirement homes. The 79 million Gen Ys will continue to fuel the housing market.”
He said while it may take 7 to 10 years to clean up the financial sector, the housing sector — which makes up 15 to 20 percent of the economy — will recover sooner. He predicts in 1Q09 we’ll see “a bump” in the economy following the election and potential stimulus measures yet to be determined during the new President’s “honeymoon period.”
“Real estate, gold, Persian rugs and Ming vases always increase in value” in an otherwise troubled economy, said Tuccillo.
Two of the convention Platinum sponsors Realty Executives of Illinois and Fifth Third Mortgage are thinking “green” with the “in” giveaway…a reusable grocery bag. Great minds go green!
Hitting the dance floor
Staff and members having fun at inaugural
Congratulating 2009 President Pat Callan
IAR Legal Hotline attorney Betsy Urbance listens to a member question.
Crowds fill the expo.
In today’s highly competitive real estate market, it’s time to get back to the basics but with a renewed sense of energy and enthusiasm, said Speaker Kim Daugherty on Thursday in his session, “Basketball, Cheese and Your Future in the Real Estate Industry.”
REALTORS can get ahead in the game by asking better questions about what their clients want and expect, using better judgment when it comes to time and resources and holding better meetings with buyers and sellers (he suggests meeting at the office rather than the client’s home.)
There’s also much to be said for spending a little extra time on personal touches, whether it be a telephone call or a thank you note sent to someone in the community, Daugherty says. It helps build a potential business contact for later.
REALTORS need to be in sync with today’s consumers and that can include using text messaging to communicated with tech-savvy clients or exhibiting environmentally-friendly practices.
Daugherty promises to have even more tips to share with REALTORS next week at his Web site, www.realestatechecklists.com
CE instructor Kim Daugherty
IAR Convention Speaker Kim Daugherty used humor and a gift for storytelling to spread the serious message that if REALTORS want to succeed they need to adapt to the current housing market, not expect it to adapt to them.
In his session, “Help!!! My Listings Aren’t Selling,” Daugherty said REALTORS must be open-minded about new strategies and business models. They need to establish themselves as the “expert” for their clients and act as their doctor might – telling them what they need to know about the market, not just what they want to hear.
Here are six truths about the marketplace that Daugherty thinks every home seller needs to know:
1. Buyers buy after shopping around and they will be comparing your property to others currently on the market.
2. Sellers control the pricing and saleability of their homes but buyers control the VALUE. A property is worth what the market will pay.
3. If a property sits on the market for more than a few weeks it gets shop worn (like a stale donut.) Price it right in the beginning while it is fresh and buyer interest is at its peak.
4. Most properties must be sold three times — to real estate agents with buyers, to the buyers themselves and then to the lenders who will loan the money.
5. What it means if there are no showings — agents don’t see your offering as worthy of showing to their buyers or buyers aren’t interested enough to look. If there are no offers, buyers don’t see enough value to even negotiate or try to buy.
6. Overpriced properties actually help well-priced properties sell.
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