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What They Didn’t Tell Me: Things I Wish I Knew About the Real Estate World Before I Jumped In

Blog Contributor Being a REALTOR®, Business Challenges, Classes & Education, Helpful Tools 10 Comments

By Brett Caviness I simply couldn’t wait two more years to graduate college before entering my dream career as a REALTOR®, so I didn’t.  I went active as a real estate agent in Cedar Falls Iowa in 2009.  Since entering the business, I have worked hard to manage my time.  With class, work on campus, activities and friends I was …

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Stop, Drop, and Roll … Or Something Like That

Blog Contributor Business Challenges, Helpful Tools, Safety 2 Comments

By Toby Boyce I rolled up on the house like I always do, peering at addresses to verify the location with where the GPS was placing the destination. However, this time I missed the house. And that’s where this story took a possibly tragic detour. With four years of experience processing broker price opinions I’ve developed a safety routine that …

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What’s the Magic Bullet to Create More Transactions this Spring?

Blog Contributor Business Challenges, Professional Development, Sales & Marketing 1 Comment

By Jared James Spring is the time when more people will be making a decision about who to use as their REALTOR® than at any other time of the year. So is there a magic bullet to create more transactions in the next couple of months?? Watch the video below and you decide. I look forward to your feedback and …

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Zuckerberg: ‘Have Faith in What You Are Doing’

Blog Contributor Business Challenges, Personal Fulfillment, Professional Development 4 Comments

By Chris Nichols I had the unique opportunity to attend a special event this last Friday. I didn’t realize how unique this event was until I got there and heard the speaker admit that he was a little nervous as he had never spoken to a stadium full of people before. That was kind of shocking to me since the …

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To Cut, or Not to Cut Your Commission: That is the Question.

Blog Contributor Business Challenges, Code of Ethics, communication, ethics, Personal Fulfillment, Professional Development, Working with Clients 15 Comments

By Subhi J. Gharbieh A week or so ago, I was approached by a long time friend who I have known since elementary school. We grew up in the same neighborhood, went to the same high school, and even graduated from the same university. I remember as kids, we would always talk about how successful we wanted to be when …

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Rentals: Time Donation or Client Base Builder?

Blog Contributor Business Challenges, Rental Properties, Sales & Marketing, Working with Clients 5 Comments

By Laura Rubinchuk All of the tag lines we hear somehow incorporate the following: Who do you know who’s looking to buy or sell in the next 30 days? Notice we never hear “rent” in those scenarios. Well as REALTORS®, how do you know when to focus your time on a rental, versus a bigger money maker like a buyer …

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The Additional Expenses of Buying a HUD Foreclosure

Blog Contributor Business Challenges, Short Sales & Foreclosures 5 Comments

By Lynn Minnick Although I’ve been in real estate for 10 years now, I just closed on my first HUD foreclosure.  We haven’t had that many in my market (yet!) and so far I’ve somehow managed to avoid them.  I almost fell out of my chair at the closing when the HUD attorney handed me a survey to complete regarding …

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Change or Die: 6 Tips for Long Term Success

Blog Contributor Business Challenges, Professional Development 4 Comments

By Chris Nichols We all remember the New York Times best seller, “Who Moved My Cheese.” Published in 1998, it’s a great book by Spencer Johnson about change in the workplace and in life. A couple days ago I popped into a Borders bookstore, I was drawn in by the 50 percent off signs, as this was one of many …

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The Importance of Image and Appearance

Blog Contributor Business Challenges, Personal Fulfillment, Professional Development, Sales & Marketing 6 Comments

By Brooke Wolford Recently, at the Minneapolis YPN SquareTable event, I had a discussion with a few agents about what type of car you should drive to protect your image as an agent.  It went back and fourth based on where you lived, who you served, etc.  While I agreed with a lot of the responses, I also feel that …

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Avoiding REALTOR®-to-REALTOR® Referral Nightmares!

Blog Contributor Business Challenges, communication, Managing Your Agents, Professional Development, Sales & Marketing 7 Comments

By Brian Copeland Over the past few months, I’ve been catching wind of a LOT of referrals between YPNers.  As Daddy Goose, I’m so proud!  As Daddy Goose, additionally, I think it’s important we chat a little about how to handle those agent-to-agent referrals. Three weeks ago, I sent out three referrals to three different REALTORS®.  None of those agents …