Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “Sam DeBord”
By Sam DeBord Excerpted from Sam DeBord’s contribution to the book “The Honest Real Estate Agent” (2016) by Mario Jannatpour. This is the question that inevitably comes up for new real estate agents within their first few years of business. There are fees to be paid to the licensing agency, the brokerage, and the MLS, but what is the REALTOR® …
By Sam DeBord Changes in technology are creating questions about the future roles of real estate associations, MLSs, and brokerages. As a result, REALTOR® association leaders have been increasingly focused on defining our value to members. A good friend of mine, who was an engineer at Apple, used to recount Steve Jobs’ version of this value-seeking process. He’d walk into …
By Sam DeBord We love to give advice as real estate professionals, and often that advice is to our professional associates. Over time, we accumulate catchy sayings that are supposed to sum up and answer other agents’ questions in short fashion. Like in any industry, the advice can be good or bad. There are a lot of great coaches and …
By Sam DeBord Government entities often attempt to place additional restrictions or costs on the transaction or transfer of real estate. While there are often good intentions involved in the creation of these “point of sale” mandates, most proposals for new or increased transactional hurdles have serious negative consequences. Point of sale mandates are a concern not only for real …
By Sam DeBord Real estate rookies can really kick start their learning experience by picking up some simple shortcuts from those who’ve been selling for many years. These are just a few of the real estate “hacks” I’ve learned over the years from seasoned practitioners that improved my experience and knowledge in simple yet effective ways. 1. Know the Concierge …
By Sam DeBord Compulsion is the crutch that lulls our organization’s recruiting and retention capabilities to sleep. When real estate licensees are compelled to be members of a REALTOR® association because of their need for MLS services, we often fail to aggressively sell them on the broad spectrum of REALTOR® benefits, most of which lie outside of the MLS sphere. …
By Sam DeBord Online home valuations have a rocky history. From automated valuation models (AVMs) used in lending during the mortgage boom to consumer-focused products like Zillow’s Zestimate, the accuracy of these valuations has always been an issue for real estate professionals. Despite online valuations’ inability to consistently provide an accurate home value on an individual basis, one thing is clear: …
By Sam DeBord There has been a lot of discussion lately about the propriety of pre-marketing listings. Promoting a “coming soon” listing on Zillow has been widely debated. I’ll attempt to make the discussion for a REALTOR® as simple as possible. Ask yourself one single question, and you’ll know how to deal with this issue. If you attempt to sell …
By Sam DeBord The U.S. tax code includes multiple incentives for buying and owning real estate. The mortgage interest deduction and property tax deduction are just a couple of the incentives that have come under fire in new “tax reform” plans for their purported special treatment of the real estate industry and home owners. Do we really need tax deductions …
By Sam DeBord This week I’m in Washington, D.C., for the REALTOR® Party Conference & Expo, and it got me thinking: Some of the most interesting committees I’ve worked with lately have focused on a range of issues surrounding the value proposition for the REALTOR® brand. From a communications audit at our local board to a state/NAR combined idea building …
