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Communication: Disarming People.

Disarming people. This is skill that needs to be developed if you want to be successful in Real Estate. Unfortunately, rude and unprofessional Realtors, upset and irate customers and nasty mortgage brokers are a part of our business. Understand this, it will not get better and you will have to deal with these people for as long as you are in the business. You cannot change them, but with practice you can change yourself and how these people react to you. I’ve said this before and I will… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on March 25, 2009 at 2:00pm — No Comments

What goes in the Hardship Letter?

This outline will help your Seller prepare their hardship letter. The sample answers are to assist NOT to just be copied. The hardship letter should only contain facts. Just be honest. The goal is to explain to the Lender why the Seller can no longer make the payments for their property. This letter should be handwritten by the Seller and legible.



TO: Countrywide Mortgage



FR: Paul and Suzie Helpus



RE: 1234 Lost Value Ave. Poinciana FL… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on March 24, 2009 at 7:30am — No Comments

How to respond to Email enquiries.

My goal with Tutas Towne Realty, Inc is to make everything as automated as possible. We are a virtual real estate compnay. The days of driving around showing properties for days on end are over. Now don't get me wrong, you may have to show some, but my goal is to limit your time doing so. Wouldn't you rather work in your jammies?



Foreign Investors will buy sight unseen. I know because these are the only buyers I ever work with. I don't have time to spend looking at… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on March 23, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

What is 3rd party approval?

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION AND RESPONSE



Hi Broker Bryant,



Thank you for the sample short sale submission letter, I found it to be very helpful. I am currently closing on a short sale and picking up a couple more tomorrow.



I have a couple of questions .... You stated... "Just remember, you are submitting a fully signed and accepted contract and asking the lender to remove the 3rd party approval. You are not asking them to accept the offer. The lender is not a party to… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on March 23, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

What is a hardship?

A Short Sale is one of several pre-foreclosure remedies. In order to request a Short Sale, from the Lender, the Seller must have a hardship AND must be able to prove it. It has to be a legitimate hardship.



Hardship:



Noun

1. conditions of life that are difficult to endure

2. something that causes suffering



A hardship is anything that makes it where the Seller can not afford the payments on theri house. A hardship is something… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on March 23, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

What is a Short Sale?

What is a Short Sale?



A Short Sale is when you need to sell your property but the amount owed exceeds the value of the property AND you are asking the lien holder (lender) to accept less as payment in full. You are asking your lender to accept a "short" payoff so you can sell and they can avoid the expense of a foreclosure.



For example: You bought your house in 2005 and paid $250,000 for it. You mortgaged $230,000. You can no longer afford to keep the house because of a… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on March 23, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

Now is the time to excel!!!

Folks, these are difficult times that we are in. But keep this is mind....there has never been a time when the consumer needed good ethical REALTORS(R) more than they do now. Many homeowners are struggling to keep their homes or salvage their credit. They need us to help them. Buyers also need us to help them get into a home while prices are down and they have many to choose from. Now is the time to excel!!!



BUT...I do know it's hard. The most difficult thing is changing the… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on March 23, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

Down Payment Assistance: Osceola County, Fl

SHIP (State Housing Initiatives Partnership) Down-Payment Assistance Application(Osceola County, Kissimmee, Saint Cloud, Poinciana and other communities) period will begin on October 6, 2008 and will end on October 31, 2008.



In order to obtain an application for assistance, the following requirements must be met:



12hr - First Time Homebuyer's Education Certificate (provided by Osceola County Extension Services)

Current Pre-approval Letter from one of Osceola County's… Continue

Added by Ron Withers on August 22, 2008 at 8:30pm — No Comments

Mortgage Financing Options for Little or No Money Down

There was a time when there were a number of mortgage financing programs/options that were available for 100% financing. Those days are gone...for the most part. Currently there are only two (2) remaining true 100% financing programs in the mortgage marketplace. They are VA loans (for military veterans with a Certificate of Eligibility) and the USDA Rural Housing loans. You do not have to be classified as a first-time homebuyer for these programs.



In additonal to the above, the… Continue

Added by Ron Withers on August 13, 2008 at 4:09am — 3 Comments

USDA Rural Housing Loans.....The Most Under-Utilized Mortgage Progam In America

This post is for consumers/homebuyers, Real Estate Professionals and Mortgage Professionals that may not have a good working knowledge of the features and benefits of the US Department of Agriculture's Guaranteed Rural Housing program. Over the years I have done a number of these loans and have come to believe that it is one of the most under-utilized mortgage loan programs in the United States. It has many flexible features not found in Conventional and FHA loans.



For those real… Continue

Added by Ron Withers on August 13, 2008 at 3:00am — No Comments

How much is my home worth?

Hi folks. Are you having difficulties getting Sellers to agree on pricing? If so, maybe you are approaching it wrong. Try this.



"I'm not here to tell you how much your home is worth I'm here to tell you what it will take to get it sold." That is my opening line on my listing appointments. My goal is to get the Sellers emotions out of the deal.



In my market right now, I spend a lot of time meeting with Sellers who have properties that have declined in value since they… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on August 9, 2008 at 4:30pm — No Comments

45 day listing agreements. Weak? I don't think so.

I've read several post recently talking about taking 6 month listings and nothing less. Well, personally, I take 45 day listings and nothing more. Not only that, but I do not charge cancellation fees. My ads state this, 45 day listing agreements no cancellation fees, ever! For me this works like a charm. When I meet with potential Sellers, mostly referrals, expired or withdrawn listings, this is usually mentioned after I have gone over my analysis.



I say something like this.... "The… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on August 9, 2008 at 4:00pm — No Comments

Get the BBA signed...part 2.

Here's a follow up with some pointers that may help in getting a Buyer Brokers Agreement (BBA) signed if you choose to work with one. And I hope you do. Here's what I do.



First, if a buyer calls me to see one of my listings I will meet them at my listing to show it to them. At this time, I will not show them any other properties unless I happen to have another listing that's similar.



If Buyers are just calling in, for any other reason, my goal is to make an… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on June 11, 2008 at 2:30pm — No Comments

Why get a Buyer's Broker Agreement Signed?

Hi folks. Today I want to talk a little bit about our responsibility to ask Buyers and Sellers if they are working with another REALTOR®. Is this something we are obligated to do by our CoE, or not? What do you think?



Here's an example: Last week, a Buyer contacted me by phone to get some information on a couple of my listings. I asked him if he was working with another REALTOR®. He said that he had gone out looking at properties with a REALTOR® the previous week. I… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on June 11, 2008 at 2:30pm — No Comments

Why you need a Buyer Broker Agreement.

Hi folks. Today I want to talk about co-brokes. Now since this post will be about commissions, please let's not use specific percentages, we don't want to upset Sherman and his anti-trust crew. I'm going to be talking about principles anyway so amounts are not important.



First, I want to clear up a major misconception in our industry "I do NOT have to show your listing if the co-broke is less than I'm willing to work for." It is neither unethical or illegal for me to pass on showing… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on June 2, 2008 at 3:00pm — No Comments

Getting the Buyer Broker Agreement signed.

On Monday, I wrote a post, about a Buyer that had looked at one of my listings, with another REALTOR® and had called me the next day trying to go behind her REALTORS® back and make an offer directly through me, the listing Broker. Anyway in that post I had mentioned using a Showing Agreement (SA) to protect your interests and then switching over to a Buyer's Broker Agreement (BBA) after the first couple of showings. I had a couple of folks, in the comments, ask me about a SA, so I thought I… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on March 9, 2008 at 6:30pm — No Comments

Protect your commission with a Buyer Broker Agreement

I've read quite a few posts, lately, on ActiveRain and other sites, talking about commissions. What's fair? Who pays the commission? Are we worth what we charge? How come I didn't get 50% of the commission? And on and on and on. Anyway, I wrote this post back in July and thought it would be a good time to recycle it. Why not? It's mine and I can do what I want with it. It has been edited slightly (a lot). It doesn't answer all the questions but it does address one of my pet peeves, the ole'… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on March 9, 2008 at 6:00pm — No Comments

Working under a Buyer Broker Agreement.

Recently I have read lots of discussions on the benefits of using a “Buyer’s Broker Agreement”(BBA). While I think we all agree they are a good thing to use, some Realtors seem to be having problems getting them signed and are not quite sure when to do this. As most of you know, I do not make it a practice of working with Buyers. However, since I am an expert salesperson, I am going to attempt to make using this agreement easier for you.



First, let’s all get a clear understanding of… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on March 9, 2008 at 6:00pm — No Comments

Sellers deserve no less than the truth.

Hi folks. Today I want to talk a little bit about listing presentations. As you know I am an exclusive listing Broker and have been for 13 years. I've sold hundreds of homes in Poinciana Fl and consider myself an expert when it comes to pricing and getting Sellers to hire me to sell their properties. It's what I do and I take it very serious.



Currently, my market is very difficult. Homes are just not selling and needless to say this makes my job more difficult. I cannot walk into a… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on March 9, 2008 at 5:30pm — No Comments

Making the connection. Building trust.

OK, today I'm going to write a little bit about "Listening presentations". I actually wrote a post about this quite a while ago titled "Make your listing presentation a listening presentation". Friday I had a listing presentation that really brought this concept home for me.



Now folks, I do want to say that all markets are different and all REALTORS® are different, so what works for me, may not work for you and vice versa.



About a year ago I bought a tablet computer. My… Continue

Added by Bryant Tutas on March 9, 2008 at 5:00pm — No Comments

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Garden Views Realty, Inc

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866-544-2919

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Winter Garden Fl 34787

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