"You've Caught the NET!"

SOME END-OF-YEAR CONFESSIONS AND PLANS FROM A CHICAGO TEAM LEADER!

Just got off the phone on our Group Telecall with our Success Coach, Patti Kouri of Accelerated Performance Coaching in suburban Los Angeles.  We've been working with Patti for over seven years - she has changed my business, and my life!

We had a very good year in 2007, our Gross Revenue is up nearly 2%, our Net Income up nearly 5% - despite encountering a very challenging condo and single-family home market in the city.  Virtually every transaction has been challenging.  Six short sales, several foreclosures, buyers who want the moon during home inspection, sellers who quickly point the finger of blame in our direction, should they can't get the same price their "friends down the street" got a couple of years ago.

In terms of units, we are about the same as last year, average sales price - just a bit better.  We're doing OK - but we could be doing EVEN BETTER!

Problem is, we were becoming complacent - NO MORE!

My wife Sue handles most of the admin work for our Team.  Together, we went to NAR in Las Vegas earlier this month.  Together, and separately, we attended several Team Building/Team Refining sessions.  It seems Teams and Business Groups will continue to grow in importance in the Real Estate Industry - as clients demand more and more, no one practitioner can do everything alone - you need help, you need interdependence!

A number of Teams, whose leaders were speaking at the conference, had smaller staffs than we have, but, in some cases, do twice the volume - in markets as diverse as Cleveland, Ohio, and Sacramento, California.   Why do they succeed?  Faith, of course.  And dead-on systems.  Leadership.  Mentorship.  Keen business sense.

But most importantly - three important items - a Killer Attitude, a Proven Business Approach, and the Expectation of Success.  Failure is not an option for the Top Players in today's real estate industry.  They don't take setbacks personally.  They are flexible, seek advice from others who have enjoyed success, and share their success with others they work with, those they serve, and those they love.

WATCH THIS SPACE, FOLKS!  We'll be right up there with them this time next year - although, as necessary, the faces and roles may change in order to get there.  How about YOU?

The market changes, folks - up and down - we all know and have experienced that.  There is not much we can do about that!  All we CAN DIRECTLY and WITH IMPACT MODIFY is how we react to what is handed to us, and how we move forward! 

I would be anxious to see how you plan to handle the 2008 Real Estate Market in your business.  What improvements are you contemplating, to do what you may never have done before?

Dean & Dean's Team Chicago

Hi, folks -

Would like your take on another "Instant CMA" product - Top Producer's Market Snapshot.  Click the link for more information, and a demo site (using, of course, the Top Producer templated website product).

The screenshots look rather impressive - a prospective seller can create a do-it-yourself CMA by entering a few facts about their house and location.  The pages that come up brand you, as the Top Producer licensee, and link directly to your local MLS, through their Top Connector software product.    They suggest with a link to contact you for more information, as you, the Top Producer License Holder, is the "Neighborhood Expert."

For sellers, the use is obvious.  On a whim, and without giving their name to a stranger, they can get an "estimate" of what their house is worth - although they are warned that their actual suggested listing and selling prices might vary widely from what the software proposes.  CYA, perhaps, but also a way to generate leads for the TP agent who subscribes to this service.

Buyers considering a property can generate comparable property data of sold houses nearby - to "justify" their offering price.  Buyers, and sellers, would have to "declare" if their intention is to buy or to sell.  This information, of course, is provided to the TP agent who subscribes.

Another feature allows you to send a link, via email, to clients in your database - a periodic "market checkup," if you will.

Subscribers to the Top Producer website product get a ready link to the Market Snapshot Launcher.  The sales rep told me those with other site providers (in other words, the vast majority of us real estate practitioners) can have the launch page framed in on one of their own pages.   On our site, dean-team.com, we would most likely  frame the page on our "Seller Toolkit" tab, "Free Home Evaluation" sub-menu.

The price per month ranges to $79.95 per month, less if bundled with other Top Producer products you might be licensing.  I figured my additional cost for the Market Snapshot product would be just over $68/month.

Top Producer used to limit the number of Instant CMA's your client can generate each month.  Now, the rep tells me, there is no such usage cap.

Conventional web wisdom tells me it will be tough to generate listing prospects directly from the web using this software - the overwhelming majority of your site's visitors are browsing for listings.  Therefore, would such software be a wise investment, or would a simple completion form alone, with data sent to the agent asking for a call back and in-person CMA, be just as effective?

I have used other Top Producer products going back to the mid-90's, and their System IV.  My relationship with these folks - love/hate.  Top Producer 7i has become very reliable, but their companion product, Top Producer 7i Remote, has, for me, been subject to crashes requiring patches and re-installation - three times thus far in 2007. 

My Team members like Top Producer Mobility, for the Palm, and like it - I had trouble with their first version of Palm-connected Top Producer software a few years ago and haven't retried.  Their available Broker Tools and Shared Assistant product is incredible, and has helped our admin staff really keep far better tabs on all Team member databases and mailing programs.

Please, share your thoughts on this with me, or propose alternate solutions, before Dean's Team "takes the plunge" with Top Producer Market Snapshot.

Thanks in advance!

Dean & Dean's Team Chicago

As Alfred Hitchcock used to say . . .

Goood Eeevning!

Down in IL Capitol Springfield tomorrow, the IL House of Representatives debates diversion of the IL Gasoline Tax in the six-county Chicago Metro Area to provide a long-term solution for Transit Funding in and around Chicago and the suburbs - IL Counties of Cook, Lake, DuPage, Will, McHenry, and Kane.  All area transit agencies - the CTA Bus and el, METRA Rail, and PACE Suburban Bus - would be impacted by the funding program.

This is relevant to not only Downtown Chicago Real Estate, but also Chicago Suburban residents as well - whether or not appropriate legislation is passed has a direct impact on train, bus, and el fares throughout the area.  If fares are raised, and service cut back, more daily commuters will hit the roads each morning - and traffic is already way too busy around here.  In fact, Chicago IL is second only to Los Angeles in average travel times - currently!

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, and IL Governor Rod Blagojavech support the proposed measure, which is first being introduce in the House by Speaker Michael Madigan.  However, the diversion of gas tax money would leave a budget shortfall for other state-funded programs, including Downstate IL road repair and construction projects.

Ideas for solving the shortfall have ranged from giving the OK to a Chicago Gambling Casino, to raising Cook County Sales Tax rates, to increasing the already-high Real Estate Transfer Tax in the City of Chicago.  As you can imagine, these proposals have met fierce opposition, by Real Estate Professionals and Taxpayers alike.

Check our summary article on BlogChicagoHomes.com.  The Illinois Association of Realtors, and their lobbying arm, discusses the legislation in their Quorum Call Online Newletter.  Also view the story and a video clip with Mayor Daley's comments on the Chicago Tribune Website, in an article written today by Reporter Gary Washburn.

Watch for further developments!

Dean & Dean's Team Chicago

Know anyone in Chicago who wants to grow? 

Our Team, at Keller Williams Fox in Lincoln Square, on the North Side of Chicago, near Western & Wilson Avenues, is looking for the one right individual to join us.

Incredible work ethic and the desire to learn, and grow to your next level are a must.  You've got to be willing to work hard, be coachable, and want to do well.  We all live by the Dean's Team Code of Conduct in our daily business.  It says, in essence - We're EXCELLENT at what we do, and we'll bring that excellence to our Buyer, Seller, and Investor Clients.  No discounters, no weak links!

Great splits, proven marketing system, strong internet presence (and growing stronger every day).  We invented the wheel already - you don't have to!  Our office is amazing, the Keller Williams Business Model second to none (profit share, sharing culture, great people and resources).

Contact Dean, in complete confidence, to learn more!  Voice - 773-290-8393.  Text - 773-790-6828.  Or, send me an email - use link in profile.

Click to our website - dean-team.com - for more, as well as a Contact Form to connect with us.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Dean & Dean's Team Chicago

Good Evening Everyone,

Ever since I built a Public Website, I have been plagued with Spam.  Tons of it!   I can make the world's biggest sandwich out of it, and still have room for leftovers tomorrow!

Tried Outlook and Outlook Express Filtering, Filtering at Point2, my web hosts (they OVER filtered), and numerous free and paid programs that said, "Pick me - we are the best Killer of The Spam!"

To date, Cloudmark Desktop, available for both Outlook and Outlook Express, seems to be the best.  After installed, it filters spam to it's own folder for subsequent deletion.  You can check the folder first, anytime, to see if any legitimate mail has been mis-directed.  Also, you can marked any missed spam, immediately, as either "Block Spam," or, equally as important in this day and age, "Block Phishing," the malicious attempt to disguise a scam offer in a seemingly-legitimate letterhead.

The company offers a 7 day free trial, afterward the cost for two computers is a reasonable $39.95/year.

Try Cloudmark out and let me know what you think, or if you have a better solution.

Dean & Dean's Team Chicago

Hope you enjoyed the Thanksgiving weekend, and you're getting down to the bottom of the Cranberry Soufle Leftover Bowl! 

I spotted a relevant article in today's Chicago Tribune, written by reporter Kenneth R. Harney, Washington Post Writers Group. 

Each day, our Team sifts through Foreclosure Databases to uncover dozens of newly-filed foreclosure actions and Sheriff's Sales scheduled.  For weeks, and months, we've been encountering rhetoric on the web and in print about lawmakers wanting to do something about it.

Such reform actions, it seems, have stalled in the U.S. Senate.  Check out our summary on our BlogChicagoHomes.com website.  Indeed, many of those with less-than-immaculate credit, who may have taken a sub-prime loan within the last couple of years, are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure, due, in some part, to the slow pace of legislative help on Capitol Hill.

Your take on this?

DEAN & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO

Hey, gang -

Just received another "Contingent on Sale" offer on one of our Suburban Chicago IL listings.  Anyone want to guess if the price on the contract was -

          A. Respectably high, or

          B. Ridiculously low!

If you guessed "B", you're right - but you knew that anyway. 

And, wouldn't you know, the prospective buyer doesn't even have his home listed yet!  When he does, says the inexperienced Buyer's Agent, of course he is going to build in some "negotiating room" in his own price.  When will he list the home - after MY client accepts!  How much time does the prospective buyer request to sell - four months, then another two to close.

In other words, let's play pretend real estate, if my client were to suddenly have a brain lapse and accept this offer, he would't close until late May of next year, if at all!

Some parts of the country have very challenging markets right now, even more exasperated by the time of the year.  But buyers seem to be getting even bolder with their demands!

Who has an insight?

Also, see our consumer-directed blog posting on our BlogChicagoHomes.com Blog Center, which our Team originally posted on November 12th.

Dean & Dean's Team Chicago

Hey, everyone -

Each and every one of you backs up, religiously, right?  Automatically, systematically, regularly.  Right?

Well, I got this thrown up in my face yesterday.  Thankfully, I DO always back up, automatically, using a business back up service at using the Connected Online Backup from Iron Mountain (for me, about $75/month).

There is another service, FREE, for most of us and our home PC's, at Mozy.com, and have been using that on my computer, as well as my wife's, for a couple of months now.  Suggested by our Tech VA - Cathy Mallers at The Office Grapevine.

In my experience, a lot of us SAY we back up regularly, but sometimes we forget, or are out of town, or got distracted by the kids, or . . . Some back up to a portable hard drive - but, in the last two years, three of these portable drives failed for me, without warning.

Went to check my Inbox on Outlook yesterday, as I was talking with Cathy, and needed to pull an archived email regarding our new instant text message company - digimarktext.com  Low and behold, all of my messages between March 16, 2007 and Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, had DISAPPEARED!  

Not to fret, using MOZY.COM I was able to look up and restore my inbox files, since it is backed up, automatically, securely and online, each night at midnight.  No messages lost - but it could have been a lot worse.  

Have you ever had someone cry and moan that they lost all their email, don't know what to do?  Back up EVERY NIGHT, online and automatically, and you won't have to worry about that!

You only have to use online back up ONE TIME to know it is worth it!  

Write back with any questions - but make this a priority, folks.  And remember, Mozy.com is FREE for home users, low cost for business users!

Enjoy the weekend!

Dean & Dean's Team, Chicago

Hey, Gang -

Just posted, on the Windy City Group, my thoughts about using Lock Boxes (manual or electronic) to handle your showings, rather than personally accompanying every showing.  This issue seems most highly charged in larger cities, where clients may be concerned about security.

Here in Chicago, the issue is highly charged.  Many agents that accompany every single showing blame those who use lock boxes to show as being lazy, or not in tune with the City of Chicago market.

 I was one of the skeptics, but now use lock boxes extensively, especially in the City of Chicago.  The boxes allow our Team to accommodate every showing.  They also free us up more to do the additional important service work, needed especailly now in this challenging market climate.

 Esepecially those of you that work in larger cities, would love your take, thoughts, and input on this.

See my Active Rain Windy City Blog Posting, including information on our showing service, Centralized Showing Service at showings.com, by clicking here.

Thanks!

Dean & Dean's Team, Chicago

Hitting the mall today?  Not me! 

Like many guys, my biggest shopping day this year will be Monday, December 24th, at around 4 in the afternoon.  Ladies, you want to find a bunch of males, each with a "deer in the headlights" look in their eyes, and fear in their hearts, heading straight to the "Gift Card" rack (they still can't think of what to buy their wives or girlfriends) - go to any mall or big box store late in the afternoon on Christmas Eve!  It's quite humorous!

Click to BlogChicagohomes.com for some relevant thoughts and great links updating what's happening on the Chicago Holiday Shopping Scene today.

 Here's a summary of links to follow before you hit the road this weekend -

Chicago Tribune Blog Friday - Continuous Updates from the Field (oops, Macy's)

WBBM, 780 AM - Live Streaming Audio of Chicago's Number One All News Station - Includes Traffic Updates around the malls, big-box stores.

periodic shopper's updates - from the WBBM 780 AM News Radio Website, in conjunction with CBS TV 2, Chicago

BradsDeals.com - Your Guide to Black Friday, and some Valuable Coupons, too.

Onward - grab those bargains!

Dean & Dean's Team Chicago