WASHINGTON 6-29-20

WASHINGTON EDITION

By the Numbers:

Understanding the True Value of Square Footage

COVER STORY

CHARLENE LITTLE

Developing Your Pricing Philosophy

RECONSIDER REFERRAL-ONLY

WHEN PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

FEATURED AGENTS

NICHOLE & JUDY JACKSON

WASHINGTON EDITION

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CHARLENE LITTLE

NICHOLE & JUDY JACKSON

CONTENTS 4) 8 THINGS SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE NEVER DO 6) RECONSIDER REFERRALONLY WHEN PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

15) BY THE NUMBERS: UNDERSTANDING THE TRUE VALUE OF SQUARE FOOTAGE 20) DEVELOPING YOUR PRICING PHILOSOPHY

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Things Successful People Never Do

There always seems to be people around you who find success with ease, but trust me, that is NOT the case. Although luck can often times play a role in someone’s success, most of the time it’s due to hard work and avoiding bad habits.

The best way to find your own success is to implement some of qualities you see in people you admire into your own life. The hard work part is still up to you, but by shifting your perspective a bit, and NOT doing some of the following

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things, that success might happen a little quicker.

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DON’T JUST WING IT

Successful people plan everything. Not only do they have yearly goals, but weekly and sometimes daily ones as well. By giving your time a purpose, and a clearly defined goal, you’ll eliminate the time you spend haphazardly doing things that might not be a priority. It will also make you feel less scattered, which is always a good thing.

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THEY DON’T TAKE ON MORE THAN THEY CAN ACHIEVE

Successful people take on what they can do well, and no more. That all starts with a daily ‘do to’ list. They always make sure their list is manageable and then they don’t sleep until that list is completed. If you find yourself not finishing your list, assess whether it was too much or if you slacked off. You’ll be surprised at the feeling of accomplishment you feel when you finish your list. Not finishing will bring you down, so make sure you aren’t biting off more than you can chew.

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THEY DON’T WORK HARDER, THEY WORK SMARTER

Yes, having a strong work ethic is key, but that doesn’t mean you should waste time on things that will have less of an impact on your success. Focus on the things that will give you the most bang for your buck. Better to spend the majority of your time there, than spread yourself thin on numerous tasks.

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THEY DON’T TRY TO PLEASE EVERYONE

This might seem like a bad call in business, but successful people know when to cut your loses and move forward. Anything or anyone, that frustration into your life, is never a good thing.

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REPEAT THE SAME MISTAKES

Similar to not trying to please everyone, successful people are also diligent about accepting when something isn’t working Top Agent Magazine

and moving on from mistakes. Yes, you learn from them, but don’t repeat them. Part of being innovative is trying new things, that will keep you fresh and energized, but learning how to let go is an equally important part of the equation.

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GO FOR THE SHORT RUN SOLUTION

Successful people are in it for the long haul and therefore thinking long term. When you have a plan for success and the patience to see it through, while you might have a slow start, you’re establishing a foundation for long term success. Going for the easy fix, usually doesn’t pay off.

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PAY ATTENTION TO THE NAYSAYERS

Lets face it, we all have people in our lives who might be a little more pessimistic than is healthy to be around. You can’t change them, all you can do is not let them drag you down into their ‘glass half full’ mentality. Have your plans and goals, be confident about them. When you’re insecure, that’s when you’re most vulnerable to those types of people.

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THEY NEVER QUIT

That doesn’t mean letting go of things that aren’t working. It means having an end goal.

Whatever obstacles or challenges come up, you take them on, always with that end goal in sight. Successful people know that adversity and overcoming those challenges, is how you grow, and will ultimately make you a better business person.

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Reconsider Referral-Only When Planning for the Future

A 100% referral rate is a testament of client happiness. But even a 30% referral rate is proof of client satisfaction. It’s all relative, say some agents. One number pays tribute to past success, which is certainly a story worth telling. But the other might better predict the future. Many agents plan for the idea that 6

working only on referral may not be sufficient during slower times of the year, in a down market, or when an agent needs to expanding into a new sector.

Unless you are clairvoyant enough to flawlessly predict every market change or every

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Many agents plan for the idea that working only on referral may not be sufficient during slower times of the year, in a down market, or when an agent needs to expanding into a new sector. life change that your clients and referral partners may experience, it’s wise to maintain an active marketing presence. The reasons vary, however, depending on the goals and trajectory of each individual’s business.

If long-term success, a growing team, a legacy or expansion into new areas are not priorities, then working a sphere of influence may be enough for some agents, especially those who may be in the industry mostly for the love of the business. But for a majority of agents, no matter how much they love their work, their real estate and mortgage businesses are careers, first and foremost.

Let’s start with the team-builders and mentors. Agents and brokers who are building teams are wise to invest in business marketing, advertising and community outreach. Ty Hutchins, who owns and operates Ty & Company Real Estate in Colorado’s Front Range, says that, while she could personally live off referrals alone, her goal is to build up her agents. “I do the marketing piece for my team, so I can help them succeed,” she says. That marketing includes running commercials on TV and in movies theatres, as well as lead generation that identifies potential buyers, sellers and Top Agent Magazine

investors between the Colorado Springs and Denver markets. Her team’s goal, she adds, is to promote their reputation of being honest, hardworking professionals with the reach of a major brand but the personalized approach of a boutique.

Then there are the growers. Khrista Jarvis and Nicole Jung of The Khrista Jarvis Team in the San Francisco Bay Area, are on a considerable growth track. “We’re the #1 team in our area and the top team in Compass Real Estate nationally,” explains Khrista. While high marks for service on behalf of their clients have led them to these heights, they know that they must continue to evolve and market their brand. “We do a good deal of social media marketing for our listings and for our business,” she says. Their names, therefore, are frequently linked to sentiments of trust, dependability and market knowledge, both in their marketing and in their reviews.

Next, there are those who weathered the worst of times. Susan Roche entered real estate sales in 2003, following several years of property management in North Carolina.

The key to her sustained triumphs through major market swings lies in her long-range planning. “If the market starts to dip or fall,

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I have safety nets in place,” says Susan Roche, team leader of Simply Real Estate, based in Charlotte. “When it’s a seller’s market, I still plan for a buyer’s market and when it’s a buyer’s market I plan for a seller’s market..” In other words, no matter how comfortable her existing work may feel, she networks consistently. She also employs a full-time marketing director who leads several projects including ongoing research, events and social media exposure in addition to listings marketing. By staying ahead of market changes, Susan knows she can unfailingly represent her clients’ best interests while still maintaining a safety net for her business.

Even professionals with more than three decades’ experience and deep referral networks know the importance of business

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marketing. Cathy Richards, co-owner with Nancy Dalaska of Epic-Wasatch Homes in Park City, UT, entered real estate in 1987 and still draws at least a fifth of her business from lead generation, social media marketing and community outreach. Her business partner, Nancy, adds that real estate is about much more than their own business. “We love collaborating and brainstorming with other agents to help them prosper,” says Nancy. “We believe the healthier the market, the better we all are.”

Regardless of market conditions, even the best reputation can’t guarantee long-term success. To sustain and grow, it’s wise to feed your business by increasing exposure, remaining flexible and maintaining systems for customer service, networking, research, marketing and lead-generation.

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CHARLENE LITTLE Top Agent Magazine

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Top Agent Charlene Little leads a small, highlydedicated team – The Charlene Little Realty Group – serving clients across the Seattle area.

Charlene Little – of Best Choice Realty in Seattle – is a dedicated, hardworking Realtor who consistently places the needs and best interests of her clients well ahead of her commission check. With a focus on educating her clients, Charlene has based her thriving business on a foundation of honesty, integrity and a stellar work ethic.

Charlene’s down-to-earth, affable nature 10Copyright Top Agent Magazine

helps put her clients at ease during the often-convoluted transaction process, and she has more than earned her reputation as a trustworthy real estate advocate for both buyers and sellers.

Charlene’s entre into the world of real estate was an organic process. “My parents used to own several rentals when Top Agent Magazine

I was growing up,” she recalls, “so I evolved into helping manage those properties. From there, I went into commercial real estate, but ultimately decided to go into the residential side of things because Top Agent Magazine

it involved being around people more, and it was more hands-on.” That was in 2005, and since then Charlene has formed a small, highly-dedicated team – The Charlene Little Realty Group – and her Copyright Top Agent Magazine11

“I have a tendency to be very direct,” says Charlene, “I give clients more information about their sale or purchase than they probably need, because buying or selling a home is probably the most expensive transaction they will make in their lifetimes.” business continues to grow exponentially year after year.

Almost the entirety of that business is based upon repeat clients and referrals, a true barometer of the excellent customer service she provides her buyers and sellers. “I have a tendency to be very direct,” says Charlene, when asked how she has managed to instill such impressive levels of loyalty amongst her clientele. “I give them more information about their 12Copyright Top Agent Magazine

sale or purchase than they probably need, because buying or selling a home is probably the most expensive transaction they will make in their lifetimes. I try to make the entire process as stress-free as possible for them.” Charlene also develops close relationships with her customers, and she becomes friends with most of them.

A major factor in the success of any Realtor is their marketing strategies, and Charlene excels in this arena, going far above and Top Agent Magazine

beyond to ensure that each of her properties is shown in its best light and seen by as many potential buyers as possible. This includes using exclusively professional photography, highly specific, targeted marketing and reverse prospecting through her extensive network of other Realtors, Top Agent Magazine

among many other effective tactics. The result is a quick sale for top dollar, and of course, happy clients who return and refer new customers.

When she’s not working hard for her clients, which is rare, Charlene enjoys nothing Copyright Top Agent Magazine13

more than spending time with her family and her dogs, particularly outdoors spending time on the water fishing and boating.

As for the future of her business, Charlene is planning on moving further into the development side of the business. She also plans to grow her team, but not to the point of sacrificing the exceptional customer

service that has become synonymous with her name.

“I truly love what I do,” says Charlene.

“The look on my clients’ faces when they get the keys to their new home is incredibly exciting. Bringing that type of happiness to someone is the cherry on the top of what I get to do for a living.”

For more information about Charlene Little, please call 206-280-6341 or email LittleC1221@gmail.com 14Copyright Top Agent Magazine

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By the Numbers:

Understanding the True Value of Square Footage Measuring the square footage of a property may seem like an objective and straightforward task, but you’d be surprised at how many agents and homebuyers misunderstand this pivotal figure.

True square footage provides homebuyers a concrete understanding of their prospective domain, but here’s the problem: the rules to determine a home’s square footage are not always uniform across the board. What’s more, much of Top Agent Magazine

a home’s value is determined by its size, so accuracy is certainly important. While many real estate agents have their own systems for determining or confirming a home’s true square footage, it doesn’t hurt to update your practices and become an expert on the subject. After all, you may learn a few techniques that could add value to a listing, or better prepare you in guiding house-hunters on the lookout.

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1. Do your due diligence Most towns and cities have a local records department where floorplans and blueprints are kept on file. It’s worth noting that these records don’t typically include any subsequent additions or remodels on a property, but they still give archive hunters a legal baseline when outlining a property’s square footage. Oftentimes, a straightforward online search of a city or county’s records office can pull the information necessary, or else agents can poke around in person to uncover informative blueprints at the records office. Either way, access to original blueprints or floorplans is a great tool for determining livable square footage. As a bonus,

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original blueprints and floorplans—especially in historic properties—can be intriguing visual aids for prospective buyers, as well.

2. Know the rules While there aren’t universal standards when it comes to measuring square footage, there are general guidelines that can help determine square footage in an authentic way. Per the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), here are the official recommendations for measuring a home’s real square footage: n

Called “below grade spaces,” basements and sunrooms beyond a home’s typical

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living quarters do not count toward a home’s true square footage. According to ANSI, even big draws like finished basements don’t count toward a property’s Gross Living Area. Of course, even below grade spaces have their own desirable value and should be outlined as such on listings. n

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Did you know the space inside closets and on stairways counts toward a home’s square footage? Even if these areas are relatively small, they still add to a property’s calculable square footage.

When recording square footage, ANSI actually suggests performing measurements from a property’s exterior—though this method does not account for the

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thickness of exterior walls, which could skew square footage numbers. n

Just like below grade spaces, a garage, a pool house, or even a guest house should not be included in a property’s Gross Living Area. The rationale at work here is this: if you must go outside to access additional living areas, then they are beyond the square footage scope of the primary dwelling and should not be included in a home’s Gross Living Area.

3. Double-check by doing the dirty work Buyers and sellers have or will make a sizable investment in a property, so isn’t it fair to double-check all the relevant facts and figures

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when it comes to true square footage? If you want to take on the endeavor yourself, here are a few helpful steps to take. n

First, you’ll need a few things to get started, including a tape measure that can measure at least 100 ft., graph paper, and a pencil.

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Next, choose a room to start measuring wall-by-wall. Measure Wall 1, then proceed to assign each square on the gridded paper a corresponding measurement, rounding to the nearest tenth of a foot for the sake of clarity.

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From there, draw out the wall you measured and measure the remaining walls in the

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room. Once you’ve completed the room’s measurements, multiply the room’s length and width to determine its square footage. n

As you go measure throughout the home, using your own system to scale, you will construct a failsafe floorplan.

Mastering your craft is everything, and the real estate industry is no different. Every now and again, it’s worthwhile to update your well of information, take matters into your own hands, and continue to innovate with the industry. While square footage may not seem like the juiciest starting off point for such a venture, never forget: mastery of technical knowledge is a sure sign of expertise.

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NICHOLE & JUDY JACKSON Judy Jackson had always harbored an interest in real estate. After seeing the ins and outs of the housing industry through various members of her family, she decided to leave her career, earn her license and dive in. “I never looked back,” Judy says.

“Real estate was the perfect place for me.”

Her daughter, Nichole, grew up around the business. After attending college on a full division one scholarship for basketball, Nichole was drawn back to real estate during the untimely passing of her grandmother. Judy and Nichole have been teamed up ever since, offering clients more than 25 years of collective experience in the market. “My mother and I balance each other out really well,” Nichole says. “We’re a genuine team.”

Today, Judy and Nichole are a mother and daughter team for RE/MAX Honors, where they serve their clients throughout the Pacific Northwest. Through a compassionate approach to client relationships, they have cemented an outstanding reputation in their community, with the vast majority of their volume coming from either repeat clients or referrals. “People want personal service,” Judy says. “We provide that. Our clients know that we’re here every step of the way and beyond.”

Judy and Nichole also value staying in touch with their clients after the transactions are finished. On top of routine check-ins, the team hosts multiple events throughout the year—such as a Thanksgiving pie giveaway in November or a Thanks-A-Latte! meet-up at a local coffee shop—where they can check back in and make sure that their clients are satisfied in their new homes. “I really value building a relationship with our clients,” Judy says. “Their happiness and success matters to me.”

Looking ahead to the future, Judy and Nichole envision the continued growth of their business. But they’re also excited about the family legacy they are leaving in the Pacific Northwest. “We’re setting our sights large,” Judy says. “There’s nothing we can’t accomplish together.”

Twenty years ago, Judy decided to switch careers and go into real estate. Five years ago, her daughter, Nichole, decided to do the same thing. Ever since, the mother and daughter team has been thriving, having built a community around the career they love. “Real estate’s awesome,” Judy says. “It’s hard work, but incredibly rewarding. There’s nothing better than helping our clients realize their dreams.”

When listing a property, Judy and Nichole offer a variety of marketing outlets. After providing professional photography, drone photography and 3D tours, they fit a home with a mix of campaigns over social media websites like Facebook and Instagram and listing sites like Zillow and Redfin. Beyond digital marketing, Judy and Nichole are also firm believers in open houses, which allow prospective buyers to get a sense of the community around a property.

Elsewhere, the mother and daughter team has developed a patient and caring workflow when working with buyers.

For Nichole, the experience of leading a buyer to a dream home is reminiscent of her days as an accomplished point guard, winning back-to-back state championships in Washington State. “I enjoy directing the process,” she says. “It feels great to help our clients achieve their goals.”

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To learn more about Nichole & Judy Jackson email judyandnicholesellhomes@gmail.com, visit judyjackson.remax.com or call (253) 590-6474 or (253) 792-9088 http://

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Developing Your Pricing Philosophy

By Dirk Zeller

Ask a dozen agents to explain their home pricing philosophy, and you’ll

hear a dozen different approaches. And if the talk reveals frank responses, you’ll also learn that the most common pricing strategy is no strategy at all.

Here’s my advice: Break out of the ranks by establishing and following a specific strategy for arriving at the ideal selling price for each home.

Adopt the philosophy that, in real estate sales, price is king. Price trumps all other factors—including marketing approaches, home condition, market competitiveness, and sales approach. I believe that, in the end, marketing and condition of the property are controlled by the price.

The alternative, advocated by many agents, most sellers, and even some sales trainers, is to emphasize marketing over pricing. Rather than working to set the ideal price, they believe success will come from optimizing the home’s condition and presentation and then marketing it with skill and savvy.

I take the opposite belief, based on years of experience working with sellers who wanted unrealistic prices for their homes and who experienced firsttime sales failures as a result.

Over my sales career, I resurrected and re-listed more than 600 expired listings—nearly 75 a year. Among all those transactions, I never met an owner with an expired listing who thought that an unreasonable price had anything to do with the home’s failure to sell. They all blamed the previous Copyright Top Agent Magazine 20

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agent and that person’s approach to marketing. Each sought some magic marketing strategy to change the reality of the law of supply and demand.

There is a magic strategy: Price the home correctly.

Price is the only factor that can overcome sales obstacles, compensate for a home’s deficiencies, and motivate a purchaser even if the condition of the property and your marketing approach is less than perfect.

Getting the listing at any cost Does this scenario sound familiar? An agent (usually a newer agent) is short on business or maybe even desperate for the chance to stake a sign in someone’s yard. The agent wants a listing at any price – even if the chance Top Agent Magazine

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to seal a deal erodes the likelihood of selling the property. To gain a seller’s nod of approval, the agent makes a flatteringly high pricing recommendation, throwing out a number the client wants to hear and then hoping something good will result from the bad situation.

I can think of few examples, if any, where this philosophy works. Hope isn’t a successful pricing strategy. Worse, the please-the-client mindset is a hard one to abandon. Agents who achieve listings with unrealistic prices find it hard to later counsel their clients honestly.

If you take and price a good listing competitively, it will sell. You can’t keep a good price a secret!

The pitfalls of a “please the buyer” approach are many and significant. By overpricing, you can practically count on a reduction in your productivity, profitability, and salability, and here’s why: It’s impossible to keep your productivity high when your time is spent in conversations with an unsuccessful seller who lacks motivation to take corrective action. The seller’s negativity, concerns, and phone calls will only increase with each week or month the house remains on the market.

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As time goes on, you’ll devote more and more time unsuccessfully trying to create a sale not only for your seller but also for yourself. This will pull you away from activities that are more likely to deliver income. The ensuing frustration will de-motivate you and stunt your ability to secure better appointments that create other income opportunities.

An unsold, overpriced listing negatively impacts your profitability because it costs you time and money to service while it delivers no revenue to your business. And the situation only gets worse the longer the listing languishes on the market. You’ll end up deducting the expenses of this in-limbo listing from the proceeds generated by any revenue-producing deals you manage to close in the meantime, reducing your net profit and business success.

Unsold homes that linger on the market seriously diminish your salability, which is the term that describes your sales success track. Your salability is based on such key statistics as your average ratio of listing price compared to sale price and the average number of days your listings are on the market.

Obviously, these statistics, which prospects rely on when choosing one agent over another, can be crushed by a “get the listings at any cost” philosophy. They’re also harmed by the “start high and reduce later” tactic.

If you take and price a good listing competitively, it will sell. You can’t keep a good price a secret!

Dirk Zeller is an Agent, an Investor, and the President and CEO of Real Estate Champions. Copyright©, Dirk Zeller. All rights reserved.

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