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LinkedIn Profile Tips for Realtors

by Express Cash Flow Blog Posts

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Maximizing Your LinkedIn Profile

In today’s age of social media being the go to for verification of business acumen, it is crucial to have an optimized LinkedIn profile.  Here are some tips on how to do just that:

1. Have your best and clearest profile picture and complete your entire profile,
2. Address what you do in your Headline not just your title,
3. Join Groups to connect with your customers, partners and prospects,
4. Tell your friends, co-workers, etc to “Like” and “Share” your post,
5. Publish articles to show your knowledge of the industry,
6. Contribute and comment to blogs,
7. Automatically connect with your contacts: sync your email accounts with LinkedIn,
8. Ask a title rep for all the homeowners in your farm and connect with them on LinkedIn,
9. Search senior job titles in your city and connect by writing them a note,
10. Lastly, and to supercharge your connects…connect with people that have a high number of shared connections by searching your “2nd degree connections”. They will usually accept your invitation more easily than ones that you don’t have share connections with. This will exponentially grow your network!

About Us:
AgentBranch.com is a real estate recruiting platform for real estate agents and brokers.
ExpressCashFlow.com provides commission advances for real estate agents and brokers.

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Best Mortgage In America

by Express Cash Flow Blog Posts

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Mortgage Today

Applying for a mortgage can be a tough task for aspiring homeowners.  Especially so for borrowers with low to moderate incomes or perhaps less than stellar credit. While the availability of credit in the early-mid 2000s made it possible to get a mortgage, this was irresponsible.  These types of mortgages would typically include a teaser rate, eventually leading to payment shock.

These days, NACA seeks to avoid that mess.  In addition to a wide depth of resources available to homebuyers to ensure they get the best possible deal, NACA also provides what has been dubbed the “Best Mortgage In America”.  This means that qualified borrowers will be able to take advantage of the following mortgage perks NACA has to offer:

  • No down payment
  • No closing costs
  • Below market interest rates
  • No Points
  • Buy-downs to near-zero interest rates
  • No fees

Seem too good to be true?  For once, it isn’t!  What’s more, NACA is not a program only available to people with certain income or credit scenarios, it is available to all qualified borrowers who do not currently own a home!  Even if the desired property requires more renovation than the buyer can afford, NACA will finance that renovation as well to allow the buyer to purchase their dream home, even if it is a fixer-upper.

This underutilized and underpublicized product is a great tool in the tool belt of first time homebuyers and realtors alike who are striving to get the best deal.

You can read more about the different programs available at www.NACA.com.

 

About Us:

Express Cash Flow – Commission advances for real estate agents and brokers www.ExpressCashFlow.com.

When to lock mortgage rate

When to Lock a Mortgage Rate

by Express Cash Flow Blog Posts

When to lock mortgage rateReal estate agents are often asked to advise homebuyers on financial matters especially on mortgage rates and when to lock them in. These can be difficult conversations, because things like whether to lock or float an interest rate can be guess work. A mortgage rate lock simply guarantees a specific interest rate if a loan closes by a particular date. Rates can often be locked for up to two months. At Express Cash Flow, we work with agents to keep their cash flowing with commission advances, and we’ve picked up a few tips for homebuyers who are deciding when to lock in an interest rate.

Home Seller Factors

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Working as a home seller can be a frustrating experience, given how long it can take for a sale to close before finally being able to take the commission you’ve earned for your work. But by preparing yourself for several different possibilities, you can lessen the frustration by being aware of what issues might pop up over the course of getting to the sale. Here are a few Home Seller Factors that might come up in the process.

Commission Advance Cost?

by Express Cash Flow Blog Posts

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How much does a commission advance cost?

 

This is usually the first and most important question to real estate brokers and agents who inquire about commission advances. This is a very reasonable question, but not a simple one.

While other companies have flat fee or fixed pricing based on the amount requested for an advance, Express Cash Flow don’t operate that way. This is almost always to the benefit of the agent requesting the advance.  A one-size fits all approach doesn’t take into account the different variables of a real estate transaction.  It also doesn’t factor in experienced agents and inexperienced agents. If no two transactions and no two agents are exactly alike, then it makes sense that those transactions have different risks. If they have different risks, then it would only make sense that those different risks resulted in different pricing. So, what are the different risks, and how do they affect the commission advance cost?

Transaction Risk
No matter how solid a real estate deal seems, there is always the chance that it could fall apart. Sometimes a buyer is unable to qualify for financing, or has a cash emergency. While this is rare and unfortunate, it does happen. There are a number of hurdles to each transaction, and any of them can be its undoing. As such, an advance requested early in the lifespan of the transaction will always be more expensive.

Agent Risk
While there will always be risks associated with a transaction, we also measure your production history as a real estate agent or broker and the risk associated with a replacement transaction should your transaction fall apart. The more history of closed transactions you have, the lower our risk, and the lower your pricing will be.

Delay Risk
It is also entirely possible that there will be delays.  Because of this, we have to have protection from these delays since close of escrow date determines pricing. So, the only fees you will ever see besides our initial quoted fee is if your property does not close escrow on time. Note, however, that the close of escrow date we agree on does not have to be the same as the close of escrow date on the purchase agreement. In order to avoid these fees, you can project a close of escrow date after the scheduled close of escrow, which is a savvy, cost saving move.

Conclusion
There is only one right answer to our most frequent question “How much does a Commission Advance Cost?” That is, we don’t know yet, but would be happy to look at your scenario individually.  If you’re able to provide us all of the details, we should be able to give you a ballpark price.  The good news is, unlike some of our competitors, we give you the full amount you ask for and are paid back only at close of escrow, so our interests are aligned with yours throughout the transaction.

About Us:
Express Cash Flow provides commission advances for real estate agents and brokers. Check us out at www.ExpressCashFlow.com or call us at 844-818-2274.

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How to Appeal to the Millennial Homebuyer

by Express Cash Flow Blog Posts

In a world where millennials are more likely to walk into your home in search of Pokémon than to check out your kitchen remodel, home sellers may want to take a step back and assess how appealing their home is in its current state to the next generation of homebuyers. Often ignored as a generation that prefers renting, that trend has reversed course, as millennials have been the largest sub-group of homebuyers in 2013, 2014, and 2015 according to the National Association of Realtors.

Once home sellers are paying attention though, it is important to take note of the nuanced preferences of millennial homebuyers. While it may seem obvious that the home needs to be “hip”, there are a number of things sellers can both do and avoid to accomplish that goal. Here are some “Do’s and ‘Don’ts” of selling to millennials:

 

Do:
• Focus on the home’s sleekness by adding modern light fixtures and window coverings.
• Use newer flooring materials like hardwood, vinyl or patterned tile
• Stick to light colored walls with darker floors for a glamorous look
• Use high tech “smart home” features to enhance the home’s “future value”
• Stage the home with sleek furniture to give it a finished, move-in ready look

Don’t:
• Have family portraits or old-looking art cluttering up your home during showings
• Utilize old fashioned décor such as wallpaper, rocking or recliner style chairs, antiques or quilts
• Allow deferred maintenance that might appeal to the bargain hunter but not the millennial
• Too many mirrors or full length mirrors

Following these tips can get the newest (and largest) demographic of homebuyers to look more closely at your home, but you’ll still need to stay top of mind throughout the negotiation process in order to successfully open (and close) an escrow. The last thing millennials will want is to have to wait more hours or days than necessary to get a response, so you’ll want to coordinate with your real estate agent efficiently. This means that the days of waiting until all parties can physically be in the same location are over. With email, text, file sharing and cell phones, it should be fairly easy to take the next step in a negotiation within 24-48 hours, and millennials expect this. Make sure you find a realtor who can meet these demands and is familiar with negotiating in a high tech world.

From there, you’ll also want an escrow company that is as efficient as the millennials expect them to be, to minimize their frustration during the escrow. Of course, there will always need to be some documents that need to be signed in person, such as loan documents or other things that need to be notarized, but many escrow companies will allow electronic signatures, or at least provide a courier or shipping label, so busy millennials don’t have to take time out of their day to go sign documents at the escrow office.

Now that you know how to appeal most to a millennial, go out and apply your knowledge to get top dollar for your home!

About Us:
Express Cash Flow provides commission advances for real estate agents and brokers. Check us out at www.ExpressCashFlow.com or call us at 844-818-2274.

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Should You Get A Second Appraisal?

by Express Cash Flow Blog Posts

Another Appraisal?

It’s a nightmare scenario. After brokering an excellent deal and receiving an offer right at or slightly above purchase price, the home sellers, buyers, and agents are simply waiting for the final details to fall into place, when the unthinkable occurs: an appraisal below purchase price.

Nothing can kill a real estate deal faster than an appraisal falling short of the agreed-upon purchase price because buyers can’t get a loan for more than an appraisal says the house is worth. The National Association of Realtors reports that about 10 percent of canceled sale contracts are due to low appraisals.

So what’s a real estate agent to do when this situation occurs? First, these are times when commission advance can help agents maintain cash flow to their real estate businesses while sellers, buyers and agents attempt to salvage the deal.

What Now?

So, should you seek a second appraisal? Here are a few things to consider.

It’s important to remember that an appraisal is simply the opinion of one appraiser. This means two different appraisers can conclude two different values for the same home. As a real estate agent, you have certain tools at your disposal to determine whether an appraiser’s opinion is accurate.

Most lenders have a process for challenging an appraisal, so savvy agents often start by pulling comparable properties that have recently sold and making a case to the buyer’s potential mortgage lender. Appraisers typically pull comparable sales information from multiple listing services, so if sales occurred outside of the listing service, point those out. Also, check if the comparables used by the appraiser were short sales or foreclosures. Short sales and homes in foreclosure usually sell for less than homes sold by owners in good financial standing with their lenders.

Find out the lender’s appraisal challenge process. Appraisals cost the buyer or the lender, so be prepared to give specifics about what the appraiser missed in valuing the property. In addition to providing comparable property sales, be prepared to show improvements to the home that an appraiser may have overlooked. If the appraisal shows two bathrooms when there are actually three, ensure that the lender or appraiser on a second pass knows the correct number of bathrooms and bedrooms and the correct square footage of the home.

Many times, these contracts that fall apart due to low appraisals can be salvaged, but it takes research and effort to get the job done. An express commission advance can keep the bills paid until a delayed deal closes.

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Top 7 Realtor Marketing Tips

by Commission AdvancesExpress Cash Flow Blog Posts

Any business is dependent on marketing in order to grow, and real estate is no different.  In order to maximize the return on your marketing, you want to make sure that you are reaching the right audiences as efficiently as possible.  

Below are some tips to help you optimize your marketing and reach your real estate goals faster.  

  1.  LinkedIn – In recent years, LinkedIn has become the ‘de facto’ platform for professionals to network. Its 300 million user base consists of just about every professional in the commercial real estate, residential real estate, finance, investing, or legal fields you could want to meet, and it offers a powerful marketing and engagement system with blogging, group discussion boards, and search functions. Combined with ultra-targeted advertising, LinkedIn is an important focus for any business in 2016.
  2. Realtor.com – Claim your profile online at Realtor.com.  Post your picture along with your contact information.  This is usually near the top of search engine results because Realtor.com is such a well-known brand, so you want this profile, which is rightfully yours, to reflect your own individual real estate agent branding.  You may also want to consider some of the tools available on your local trade industry’s website, like the ones available on CAR.org  http://www.car.org/tools/
  3. Your Website – Your website is the foundation for all of your digital marketing efforts. If a potential client goes to your website, you want them to be impressed and you want them to contact you.  Your website should funnel all interest and inquiries into either an inbox or voicemail that you check regularly and can respond to quickly. You can look at using Listingbook, Top Producer, Placester or WiseAgent.
  4. Referrals – Referrals are the lifeblood of any successful real estate business. You can work harder than anyone else out there, but if you don’t have a “sales force” of satisfied clients and trusted referral partners, you will quickly fall behind the competition.  The best referrals can come from CPAs, attorneys, mortgage professionals and even other real estate agents that serve other areas.  Think about a commission rebate for your referral, possibly 1% back is a traditional amount.  You might also consider joining a business networking group like BNI, Le Tip,Toastmasters or a local Chamber of Commerce.
  5. Tap your network via email – There are a number of software programs such as com,Campaigner.com or Constantcontact.com you can utilize to optimize your network. Whether you are using a high priced contact management software or simply keeping track of your contacts in a spreadsheet, being top of mind is key.  One of the most cost effective ways to continually be top of mind is to add value to your network via email.  While you always want to be thought of as the real estate expert in your network, you don’t always need to talk to people only about real estate.  Safe, topical emails that keep you in front of your friends and clients will always frame you in a positive light.
  6. Facebook – Everyone these days is on Facebook. It can be used for just about any purpose, whether it is your client who just bought a new house throwing a party to show off their new kitchen, or the vacation a friend just took based on the referral you gave them to get hooked up with a Home Equity Line of Credit, Facebook is a great way to intertwine your business and personal lives.  Just be sure that you know your audience… you wouldn’t want your Facebook activity to rub potential clients the wrong way.  You can also join Facebook group related to your industry, neighborhood, community, alumni associations or anything else you’re passionate about.
  7. Working Capital – This might be the most important tip of all! You need to constantly be in front of your network, and while email and social media are great for this, there is still something to be said for face time, usually over a meal or drinks.  As the successful realtor that your network assumes you are, you should be able to pick up the tab without thinking twice about it. This means always having cash or credit available, regardless of when your deals are closing.  You’ll also need cash available to consistently send out the marketing pieces that are so important for building a brand.  If you don’t have a good sized war chest available to meet these cash demands when they arise, you may want to consider utilizing a commission advance company such as ExpressCashFlow.com.

Lastly, remember to keep in mind that while you want to market as much as possible, you also want to post an appropriate number of times for the platform you are using.  You would never show up at someone’s door multiple times uninvited in a short period of time, just like you shouldn’t post on Facebook about your business multiple times in a short period of time.  Similarly with LinkedIn.  Posts can be more frequent on Twitter, since the nature of Twitter is to keep up with real time, but you should always make sure that your posts have a lot of value.

About Us:
Express Cash Flow provides commission advances for real estate agents and brokers. Check us out at www.ExpressCashFlow.com or call us at 844-818-2274.

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