NEW JERSEY 8-24-20

NEW JERSEY EDITION

Why Millennials Are Now

The Hottest Segment of the Buyers Market

MAKE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

BE THEIR REALTOR® FOR LIFE:

Your Calling Card

How to Build a Relationship with Your Clients that Will Last a Lifetime

FEATURED AGENT

GLORIA CASTAÑO COVER STORY

NICOLAS J. DIMEGLIO

NEW JERSEY EDITION

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NICOLASJ.J.DIMEGLIO DIMEGLIO NICOLAS

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GLORIA CASTAÑO Gloria Castaño

CONTENTS 4) MAKE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING YOUR CALLING CARD

15) WHY MILLENNIALS ARE NOW THE HOTTEST SEGMENT OF THE BUYERS MARKET

6) BE THEIR REALTOR® FOR LIFE: HOW TO BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR CLIENTS THAT WILL LAST A LIFETIME

22) HOW TO MAKE YOUR COMMUTE PRODUCTIVE

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Make Social Media Marketing Your Calling Card These days, it’s no secret that buyers begin their home search online. As the industry continues to take a digital turn, Realtors in the know must learn to utilize a whole new range of tools available to them—and for good reason. Social media is a dynamic hybrid of personal contact and targeted marketing. To make the most of this new medium, agents can’t settle for the occasional post and expect results.

Instead, let’s consider a few techniques that will make your social media presence 4

interactive, unmissable, and effective in generating business.

Your Profile is a Portal Ideally, you’ll have profiles across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and otherwise—but no matter what portal you’re utilizing, make sure your profile page is up-todate, well-curated, and easily navigated.

Consider your profile a landing page.

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Your photo, location, contact information, homepage, and a brief bio should all be readily visible so that potential clients can get an immediate sense for who you are and what your voice is. If a client wants to connect with you, it should be obvious how to do so. You might also incorporate a few savvier tools that make your profile more engaging—like hashtags. These searchable tags can help you lure potential clientele and give your audience a chance to explore deeper. #DreamHome #JustListed and #HomeInspiration are popular, existing tags to choose from, but you can cultivate your own hashtag by consistently tagging posts, which gives clients an extensive thread to comb through.

Interacting with Your Audience Posting regularly is great way to appear in feeds, but engaging with your audience is just as important—and it helps you reach a new audience in the process. It’s a positive start to like your audience’s posts, pictures, and statuses, but commenting takes your engagement a step further and separates you from typical respondents. It’s also important that you diversify your engagements. In other words, don’t center every communication around your business, propositioning your services, or trying to sell. If applicable, present your value-add, but otherwise steer your engagement towards the personal. Let your clients know that you’re there, you’re human, and Top Agent Magazine

ready to work at their pace. Which leads us to our next point...

Blending the Professional with the Personal Engaging with your audience is one thing, but what about generating original content?

How do you strike the right balance between a Call to Action, industry updates, and a personal touch? Think of it this way: any post you create should provide a point of connection for your audience.

Sometimes, you might be sharing a family photo, or commenting on some unifying current event—like the Super Bowl! Other times, you may be sharing a Coming Soon listing, or providing tips to spruce up a home for spring. Regardless, you should focus on quality. Is your copywriting engaging? Does it express your unique voice and personality, while maintaining clarity? Are you giving your audience something to connect with, even if you are sharing property photos or advertising an open house? Instill some fun and some personalization to every piece of content you make, so that clients can picture the voice and person behind the post.

Things are always changing on the social media frontier, but some rules never shift.

Adding clarity, consistency, and personality to your online presence are three surefire ways to grow your business and make social media second nature.

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Be Their REALTOR for Life: ®

How to Build a Relationship with Your Clients That Will Last a Lifetime In the world of real estate, an agent’s relationship with their clients can make or break their career. This industry revolves around working well with people, and being able to develop a strong relationship with your clients is the foundation that you business is based upon.

Just like with a house, if that foundation is weak, the rest of the structure is also going to be unsteady and fragile. The mark of a good REALTOR® is their ability to build up a good referral network and following of loyal clients. This isn’t something that just happens by accident. Building healthy, strong relationships with your clients takes work and knowing how to gain another person’s trust, respect, and friendship. Here are some ways to make sure you are building the right kind of relationship with your clients.

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1. Use Your Friendliness and Optimism to Win Them Over: No one wants a pushy, overly confident salesperson for a REALTOR®. Clients are much more inclined to put their trust in the hands of someone who is friendly when it comes to one of the biggest financial transactions of their lives. A pleasant, outgoing disposition will win you more clients as well as friends. You want to establish rapport in the first few minutes of first meeting prospective clients. Rather than starting with business right off the bat, begin your meeting with some small talk such as similar interests, hobbies, and family life. This will immediately help to put your clients at ease, and show that you are not simply trying to “sell” them something.

People also respond well to optimism. During what can be a very stressful time, clients need someone to help them stay positive when a situation looks difficult and challenging. Optimism also tends to radiate charisma, and people want to be around and do business with charismatic people. You want to learn how to understand, motivate, and inspire people.

2. Be an Inquisitive Learner and an Empathetic Listener:

On the other side of this coin is knowing how to listen empathetically. Empathy involves actually putting yourself or your mind in their shoes so you can genuinely understand their concerns, needs, and opinions. That understanding and empathy is then reflected in your conversation with that client. Your clients want to know that you care about their situation, and that they’re not just another sale for you to make. People are much more willing to put their trust in you when they can sense that you are actually making an effort to feel what they feel in order to understand their situation.

Showing your interest through questions, and then thoughtfully listening goes a long way towards gaining trust. Showing empathy and acknowledging the feelings and emotions involved in your clients situation helps build a relationship founded on genuine care and trust.

3. Watch for Nonverbal Clues:

Don’t be afraid to show your curiosity and ask your clients a lot of questions. Some of these questions may even be difficult and uncomfortable. You want to discover and learn as much as you can about your client. Don’t make the mistake of jumping straight into the role of the know-it-all. Every different client has unique needs, so you want to learn as much as you can about their specific situation before trying to propose a solution. You want to uncover their primary motive for buying or selling, and flush Top Agent Magazine

out any potential concerns they might have.

After you’ve gained as much information as possible, you can then gauge their interest in your possible solutions by asking “what if” questions. Being inquisitive also demonstrates to your clients that you are genuinely interested and invested in their situation.

Most communication happens nonverbally, so knowing how to interpret your client’s body language can be incredibly helpful. Here are a few things to pay special attention to: Eye contact: Be careful with the level of eye contact you use with clients when first meeting.

Too much and too little eye contact can send the wrong impression. You want to try and maintain eye contact around 70 percent of the time. That is the amount that most people are comfortable with. Pay attention to your client’s level of eye

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contact to determine how comfortable they are.

When someone avoids eye contact that could mean they are not engaged in the conversation.

A good way to quickly build a feeling of rapport when first meeting clients is to make eye contact when you first meet them and then start nodding yes to what they’re saying. If the client reciprocates the eye contact and nodding, you’ve established a connection.

4. Prove your honesty and credibility:

Choose the right handshake for each client: One handshake does not fit all people, and that first handshake can be crucial to making a good first impression. The way to do a good handshake for each client is to try and mirror the other person’s handshake in strength, keep your shoulders aligned as you are preferably standing when you shake hands. While you shake your client’s hand make sure you make eye contact and give them a sincere smile.

Showing a little weakness can actually be to your advantage in this situation, and will actually make others more inclined view you as honest. You don’t want to come across as too good to be true. When revealing this weakness, however, the key to coming out on top is turning what sounds like a weakness into a strength. For example, your service may be more expensive, but that’s because you offer more personalized and extra services than your competitors.

Honesty and integrity are the two traits that 98 percent of buyers and sellers report are qualities they consider “very important”. The thing is you can say you have these traits all you want on your website, bio, etc., but trust has to be earned, and the only way to do this is to prove your credibility.

Here are a few tips for how to sound more credible:

When you talk to your clients avoid using filler words such as “um” and “uh”, which can decrease your credibility. You also want to watch the tone of your voice. People tend to translate a deeper tone as sounding more credible.

You want to develop a relationship to last a lifetime when interacting with your clients. There are many things you can do to accomplish this, and using these tips can take you from getting just a few referrals and repeat customers to gaining a loyal client following. Taking the little extra time to make sure you are projecting the right attitude and making sure that you are doing things to gain your client’s trust can make a world of difference for your business.

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NICOLAS J. DIMEGLIO Top Agent Magazine

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Top Agent Nicolas DiMeglio of Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices Fox & Roach Realtors serves Middlesex, Somerset, and Mercer Counties in New Jersey.

Nicolas DiMeglio became interested in the business of real estate when he took a real estate course in college. After graduating, he started doing real estate part time, while working for a prestigious law firm for nine years. But when he became increasingly busy with new leads, he chose to give up his fulltime job and pursue a career in real estate instead. He’s been in the business for 37 years now, starting with his own real estate agency first—the DiMeglio Realty Group, which he operated for 18 years with a team of over 60 agents—then merging 10 Copyright Top Agent Magazine

with Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices Fox & Roach Realtors. He currently works with a team of five, including his wife Robin who has been licensed as a Realtor for 16 years as well as his longtime office administrator Michelle Barone. With his extensive knowledge of the New Jersey real estate market, he serves Middlesex, Somerset, and Mercer Counties.

Having been successful in the business for so many years has allowed Nick to build up a significant network of repeat as well as referral Top Agent Magazine

customers. He estimates it to be as high as 90 percent. “I am currently working with kids and grandkids of the parents who I also sold houses to,” he says. And it’s no wonder that his clients keep coming back, as Nick always prioritizes their experience, and continually seeks out feedback on how he can improve it. “We send out a customer satisfaction survey at the close of every deal. We are genuinely interested in getting the customer’s input on how we did.”

And it’s this continuous drive for knowledge, education, training, and learning how to be better, that has not only earned Nick numerous awards throughout his career, but most importantly, has given him the reputation as one of the best and most trusted real estate professionals.

Not only do clients call Nick about buying and selling houses, but they also look at him Top Agent Magazine

as a person possessing a wealth of knowledge and expertise in all areas concerning their properties. “I’m like a resource for my clients. Anything that has to do with real estate, insurance, or property management, they call me,” he says. And his stellar track record in the 11 Copyright Top Agent Magazine

“People can get quite stressed out about this process, especially if there’s multiple offers on the table. I do my best to alleviate that and keep them happy, and keep their eye on the prize.” business has consistently earned him the annual Distinguished Realtor Award, since 1987.

Besides his experience in the business, Nick also wins over clients with his strong values and ethics. “I’m very honest, transparent, and upfront with my clients. I don’t sugarcoat anything. I think that’s why they hire me. I’d rather lose a deal, than do a deal that’s not ethical.

For example, if somebody comes to me and they’ve already seen a property with another agent, I tell them to go back and purchase with that agent. It’s important for me to do the right thing.” It’s this honorable approach that turns his clients into his friends, with whom he stays in touch long after the transaction is over.

Even though he has a team, Nick likes to stay Copyright Top Agent Magazine 12

hands-on when it comes to his business and his clients. “I keep up with everything personally,” he says. He has a database of over 2,500 clients, and one of his favorite ways to keep in contact and give back to them is by sending them a desktop calendar every year. “My clients look forward to these so much now, that if I accidentally miss sending one, I get a call asking about the calendar!”

For Nick, the best part of being a real estate agent is getting to meet new people and being able to skillfully negotiate the best deal for his clients. He strives to always remain upbeat and in good spirits for his clients, and to be able to give them as much of a stress-free experience as possible. “People can get quite stressed out Top Agent Magazine

about this process, especially if there’s multiple offers on the table. I do my best to alleviate that and keep them happy, and keep their eye on the prize.” And for Nick, no transaction is too insignificant to take on. “I do everything, nothing is too small,” he says.

Nick believes that being deeply involved in his community is important, which is why he spends a lot of his free time doing volunteer work. He recently received the Volunteer of The Year award from the Chamber of Commerce in Franklin Township. He also frequently volunteers at schools and his local food bank. As a Top Agent Magazine

father of two, Nick has spent a great amount of time volunteering at the local school district, and was the Chair of Committee for a successful $85 million dollar School District Referendum. And outside of giving back, he loves going to the beach, bike riding, and spending time with his wife Robin, their children Caitlyn and Nicolas, and dog Bella.

In the future, Nick hopes to continue growing his business in the same way he has for many years now, while staying true to his old-fashioned values of trust and an ethical approach to business. But he’s most excited about the Copyright Top Agent Magazine 13

newly licensed agents that will be joining his team this year. “These are students that have just graduated, and I truly look forward to teaching them about the business, and passing on some of

the valuable lessons I’ve learned over the years.”

As for his advice to new agents, he says, “Never promise somebody something that you’re not going to be able to deliver.”

To learn more about Nicolas DiMeglio call 732–828–9403, email nicolas.com@att.net, visit foxroach.com/Bio/nicolasdimeglio, or facebook.com/Nicolas-DiMeglio-Prudential-236033703121735 www.

www.

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Why Millennials Are Now the Hottest Segment of the Buyers Market

and How You Can Attract Them to Your Home There are many factors when it comes to knowing how to sell your home to the Millennial generation. Millennials are becoming an important part of the buyer market, and to fail to cater to their needs will cut you off from a large and important segment. But, why have Millennials all of a sudden become interested in buying houses when they were perfectly content to rent for the rest of their lives?

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A number of factors contribute to what has recently made Millennials the hottest segment of the Buyers market. One factor is the improved job outlook for Millennials. Millennials took a serious blow during the recession.

Unemployment in this group soared to 14 percent, compared to the 9.6 percent for the population as a whole. But, in recent years that number has been decreasing, with unemployment for Millennials being 9.3 percent this past year.

Rising rents are also contributing to making Millennials more interested in purchasing homes now. Rents have risen so much that buying a home now just makes more sense. Half of all renters spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Millennials are becoming increasingly stressed over the constantly increasing financial obligation to something that isn’t even theirs to own.

The near-historic low mortgage rates are luring Millennials towards purchasing a home with their promise of affordability. When compared with the skyrocketing rental rates, buying a house looks even more enticing.

Another factor helping Millennials get over the hump of purchasing a house is the lower down payment requirements. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now offering new loan programs that require as little as a 3 percent down payment. This may just be the last push the Millennials needed to turn toward buying a home rather than rent.

So, now that we’ve established that Millennials are finally joining the Buyers market, the next thing that it is important to understand is what exactly Millennials are looking for in a home. What kind of floorplans do they prefer? What locations are they interested in? Here are some of the essentials that Millennials are looking for in a home: • Updated Kitchens and Baths: Almost everyone wants to buy a

home with new kitchen and bath fixtures, but this is especially true for Millennials Buyers. Millennials are going to spend most of their savings on the down payment and furnishings, leaving little room to update the Kitchen and Bath, which are also the most expensive parts of a home to

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update. Millennials who are on a budget simply won’t have the money to sink into those areas. An updated Kitchen and Bath is sure to bring in a younger crowd.

• Big Kitchen with Open Floor Plan: For Millennials, the kitchen has

become the room where they hangout in addition to the family room. This is why having an open space that can transition easily from the kitchen to the TV room is high on the list of things Millennials are looking for in a home. Along a similar vein, Millennials are attracted to an open floor plan rather than one that compartmentalizes the home. This has to do with how Millennials entertain. Millennials want their guests to flow through the rooms and mingle together, rather than be sectioned off in different rooms.

• Home Office: More than 13 million Americans now work from home,

and if you look at the trend, that number is only going to increase as the time goes on. With technology steadily increasing, more Millennials than ever have the flexibility to work from home. But, the home office isn’t just for someone working from home full time. Having a separate space dedicated to work helps people concentrate and focus on work while they are at home. They can separate themselves from the activities going on around the house and have a quiet space where they can set up their workday, plan a presentation, hold a meeting on Skype, or even pay bills.

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• Less Maintenance: Many Millennials work different schedules that

don’t conform to the 9 to 5 workday, as well as full social calendars. This doesn’t leave them much time to clean a big house. Lawn services and low-maintenance front yards are particularly appealing, as they take less responsibility to still keep the curb appeal high.

• Energy-Efficient Appliances: Millennials have been educated on

keeping the Earth clean from the time they were born. They want to do their part to help the environment and appreciate the long-term cost savings that come with it. Energy-efficient appliances and greener ways to heat and cool the home might end up being the tipping point that makes them choose one house over another.

• Hardwood Floors: Millennials don’t have the time or patience to clean

dirty carpets, especially those that own pets. Hardwood and laminate flooring is easy to mop up if there’s been a mess. The more time they can conserve, the better.

• Good Location: Millennial buyers are looking for homes that are in

proximity to public transportation and have a good walking score. Young Millennial buyers without children are more likely to want a location closer to the action of the city, while Millennials with children would prefer more residential areas.

• Technology: Technology rules the Millennial’s life. They do work on

their computers through an Internet connection and solely use cellphones for communication. They are going to ask about how strong the cell service is and about the Internet service provider. While these amenities are out of the seller’s hands, Millennials are still going to ask these questions, and you will need to know how to answer them.

Knowing what Millennials are looking for in a home will ultimately help you make the necessary changes that will attract these buyers to your home.

Since they are the a serious segment of the market now, updating your home to fit their needs will lead to more buyers and better offers. So, get with the times and embrace the Millennial buyer.

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Gloria CastaĂąo

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GLORIA CASTAÑO

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Top Agent Gloria Castaño with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, serves Union, Middlesex, Essex, and Passaic Counties in New Jersey.

Close to 90% of her business comes from repeat and referral clients.

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Gloria Castaño has been working in real estate for over ten years. During that time, she has built a strong referral-based business based on her reputation as a compassionate, hard-working Realtor® who is always there for her clients and will do whatever it takes to help them achieve their real estate goals.

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When buyers have credit problems they need to fix before they can qualify for a loan, Gloria is there to help them. “I know that every buyer’s situation is different, and sometimes clients come to me not even knowing whether they can buy a house because they don’t have credit. So I will work with those clients, telling them, ‘OK, this is what you have to do: you need to start building credit, or fix your credit,

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As a Realtor® for Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, Gloria serves Union, Middlesex, Essex, and Passaic Counties in New Jersey. Close to 90% of her business comes from repeat and referral clients, an impressive number that demonstrates how comfortable her clients feel working with her and recommending her to their friends and family. “My biggest advertisement is referrals,” Gloria says. She earns her clients’ trust by listening and being attentive to their needs. “I get attached to my clients’ needs, and I’m always looking for the deals that will be right for them.”

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or get out of this debt.’ I work with them, sometimes for a year. When we are finally ready to buy, it’s such an awesome feeling to help them buy the house that they were looking for.”

Gloria’s clients love that she is always available to them, whenever they need her. “I always answer my phone 24/7,” Gloria says. “If I’m on another call, I always return my phone calls.

I always keep in touch with my clients.” This extends beyond the transaction at hand, and becomes a longstanding personal connection.

“Even after we close, clients become my family and my friends. I get invited to their family parties, birthdays, and other events. I form an emotional bond with my clients.”

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Gloria’s extensive network of personal connections also helps her find the right buyers for her clients’ listings. When she markets a listing, Gloria says, “I turn to my list of buyers and start calling them.” She also hosts and promotes open houses, inviting brokers and getting the word out.

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Gloria has a huge love for animals, and has three rescues of her own: a scarlet winged macaw, a bare eyed cockatoo and a five-year-old chocolate labrabull. “When I do something, I do it from my heart,” Gloria says. When she is not working, Gloria loves making crafts and putting together floral arrangements, which she sometimes gives as gifts to her clients.

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This year Gloria made the NAHREP 250 Top Latino Agents. “This was a huge surprise and blessing for me,” she says. In the future, Gloria wants to keep doing better and better work for her clients. “I’m always pushing myself to be a top agent. That way, I’m helping my clients and at the same time I’m growing my business. I love to help people, and the biggest accomplishment for me is when I get to see my clients’ faces and see how happy they are to own a home. That is a passion for me, and it is what motivates me to continue doing my best.”

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To find out more about Gloria Castaño, please call 908-413-2293, visit EliteBHG.com, or email gloria@elitebhg.com http://

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How to Make Your Commute Productive The highest caliber business owners and entrepreneurs utilize every minute of their day.

Though this may be a lofty goal, there are certainly ways to make our daily routines more efficient and productive. Consider the morning and evening commute—time blocks that are accounted for every day. For some of us, daily commutes may mean a lengthy drive through gridlock traffic, or perhaps just a quick fifteen-minute crosstown excursion. However short or long your commute may be, there are ways to maximize this component of your daily routine and reap the rewards.

With that in mind, take a look at some ideas below to inject some energy and productivity into your daily commute.

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Listen to the latest industry-centric podcasts or audiobooks Whether you drive, bike, walk, or take public transportation, a commute is the perfect time to tune into an industry-oriented podcast or audiobook as a way of building your skills or getting into the zone for the day. Instead of letting your commute time be passive, you can process insights from leading industry professionals, or develop your skillset on a topic you haven’t yet made time for. Perhaps you’d like to develop your social media presence, or maybe you’d like to tap into the millennial homebuyer market—whatever the case may be, there is audio material out there suited to your interests. What’s more, podcasts are free and easy to incorporate on your smartphone or

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tablet, and there are ample audiobook subscription services out there that make regular listenership cost effective.

Create a mental to-do list to get a head-start on your day, or to prepare for tomorrow Getting your thoughts in order with a straightforward to-do list can help you dive in once you make it to your desk, or serve as a conclusive mental routine to end your work day.

If you drive to and from work and don’t have your hands free, don’t fret. Speaking your to-do list aloud can help you detangle your thoughts and tasks by vocalizing them. You can also try breaking down your to-do list by verbalizing the day’s goals, the week’s goals, and the month’s goals as a way of structuring priorities. If your commute is hands-free, you can incorporate a variety of apps that serve as custom-made todo lists that’ll organizationally map your duties for the day. In either case, use your commute window to identify and name the tasks ahead of you, and you’ll be able to hit the ground running when the time comes to perform.

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Tend to your personal commitments and planning A productive commute can boost your professional performance, but it can also serve your personal growth and out-of-the-office responsibilities, as well. Perhaps you can think out and plan your meals for the week so that you don’t come home burnt out and with nothing in mind for dinner. Maybe you check in with a relative or partner and catch up for a spare twenty minutes.

Not only does this eliminate a few items off of your personal to-do list, it can actually give you a more focused mind at the office. If your personal life is in good order, you’ll be able to devote your full attention to work tasks.

As the old saying goes, there are only so many hours in a day. If you added up all the minutes spent commuting around town, how many hours would amount? Though the trek to and from the office is an engrained part of professional life, it doesn’t have to be a drag. Account for those spare commute windows in productive ways, and in only a month you’ll have devoted a significant portion of your time to bettering yourself as a person and a professional.

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