First-Ever Local REALTOR Association Leadership Development Program

The other day, I wrote about “gradumatating” from the Virginia Association of REALTORS, Virginia Leadership Academy. Well, that wasn’t the only great REALTOR leadership program I went through this year.

Three local REALTOR associations, DAAR, PWAR and FAAR, put together a Leadership Development Program and selected only a few REALTOR members to go through the program. I was fortunate and honored to be one of those chosen.

Though the Virginia Leadership Academy focused heavily on leadership in general, it didn’t touch upon the ins and outs of REALTOR association dealings and how they work very much. That’s where the Local Leadership Development Program really came into play.

The program focused heavily on how REALTOR associations work (and the politics involved). I find that equally important as learning how to be a better leader when it comes to bring change for the better to REALTORS and consumers alike. You can lead until you’re blue in the face, but you’ll never bring change for the better if you don’t know how the organization you’re trying to bring change to works.

They didn’t mess around.

The speakers they brought in included,

• Past local REALTOR association leaders
• Past state and national REALTOR association leaders
• Current legislative affairs heads from local and national REALTOR associations
• and the list goes on…

There were only about a dozen of us in the program so one-on-one and group discussion time was abundant. There was plenty of time for us to ask questions and our questions were immediately answered, which helped tremendously in the learning process.

This was the first local REALTOR association Leadership Development Program and hopefully not the last because it was awesome. Thank you to DAAR, PWAR and FAAR for putting it together and for asking me to be a part of it. And congratulations to my fellow graduates!

I Gradumatated from VAR’s Virginia Leadership Academy!

Being a successful Real Estate Consultant and REALTOR® is not just about selling lots of homes. I believe you have to be three-dimensional – take lots of continuing education, stay on top of current and upcoming real estate events and regulations, give back to your community and get involved in your local and state REALTOR® association. Part of being involved in your local and state association includes attending the Virginia Association of REALTORS®, Virginia Leadership Academy.

The Virginia Leadership Academy, which involves several retreats and many meetings over a period of 9 months along with a huge class project, accepts only 22 REALTORS® per year. There are over 33,000 REALTORS® in Virginia so the competition is stiff and the acceptance standards are high. That’s one reason why I was so honored to be accepted into the Virginia Association of REALTORS®, Virginia Leadership Academy, Class of 2009.

And I didn’t just attend… I gradumatated! (Yes, the misspelling is for humor purposes – so please chuckle now)

The Virginia Leadership Academy proved to be quite the learning experience…

We learned a bit about the way the Virginia Association of REALTORS® works. But, more importantly, we learned about leadership, how to better serve our clients and we created relationships with some of the best and brightest REALTORS® in Virginia. This may not sound like it would help you – the consumer – but in fact, it does greatly.

“How?” you ask… Here’s how…

Being in the same room with another 21 REALTORS® always leads to “shop talk.”  But this was “shop talk” with some of the best and brightest in the biz. Exchanging ideas and experiences with these folks proved to be more valuable than many of the continuing education classes I’ve taken. (Not that the classes were bad, but just sayin…)

The most important part for me was learning about leadership. That’s important to me because I believe that there is a great deal of room for change and improvement in the real estate industry – particularly in the consumer experience department.

How do you bring change to the real estate industry and help improve the consumer experience?

Besides doing the right thing yourself in day-to-day business dealings, get involved in your local and state REALTOR® association. That’s why I serve on several committees at the local and state level and hope to get more involved in a leadership role down the road. Graduating from the Virginia Leadership Academy will help me be more effective in bringing change for the better once I am in more of a position to do so.

In addition to great “shop talk” and the leadership lessons, there’s the whole “creating relationships with fellow classmates.” I have been able to confidently refer several clients moving to other parts of Virginia to fellow Virginia Leadership Academy alumni. And I’m completely comfortable doing so because I know them personally, trust them and know they will take great care of my clients.

The Virginia Leadership Academy proved to be a great and rewarding experience and I’m honored and happy to have gone through it. Thank you to VAR for accepting me into the program. Thank you to DAAR for sponsoring me. And congratulations to my fellow Virginia Leadership Academy alumni!

Another Happy Seller!

I haven’t written about clients I’ve worked with to sell or buy a home before, but someone suggested I do (maybe because some of you may think that all I do is blog rather than “work”).  That’s why I’m here to share with you one of the latest stories of me helping a client sell their home.

This particular property is located in Mclean, VA. It’s a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo in the gated Colonies community located just down the street from Tyson’s Corner. We went with an aggressive list price because of the lack of inventory in the community and area in general, as well as the market conditions, which were favorable for the seller.

We also went with a marketing approach that was focused on today’s buyers and those that would be the most likely to be searching for a condo in the Mclean/Tyson’s Corner area in this price range. And we took it to another level..

• a custom single property blog site with all the information a buyer would need all in one place (click here to check out the site)
• custom business cards inside the property with the address and URL to the site rather than the typical, “Look at me!” listing agent’s business cards with their face plastered all of it (which does little to sell the home)
• complete list and date of upgrades/renovations both, in a brochure and on-line
• (and other things I won’t reveal for the sake of my competitors reading this post – sorry)

Guess what…the approach worked as planned! We received an offer within 24 hours of going on the market – even at the aggressive list price. After some negotiations, my client and the buyer came to an agreement on price and terms.

Though the buyer had some hurdles along the way which directly affected the seller (no transaction is ever without at least one hurdle), the property settled at the end of October. The seller was very happy with the outcome and the buyer was excited to move into their new, and first home!

Here is what the sellers had to say,

We listed with Danilo in September and closed in October. Yeah!  Don’t let that easy-going, nice-guy exterior fool you, Danilo was aggressive and I definitely recommend him next time you need to buy or sell. No, this is not a paid advertisement.

Though this is the latest seller I’ve worked with, it is by no means the only one. Here are a few other examples of sellers I’ve worked with and helped sell their home…

• 21377 Scara Pl, Broadlands, Virginia 20148
• 44039 Rising Sun Ter, Ashburn, VA 20147

If you would like to chat about selling your home, buying a home or the real estate market in general, feel free to contact me any time (click here for contact form/info).

Celebrating 3 Years!

Wow, how time flies! Three years ago this month, I started blogging about Loudoun County real estate and the area in general. Back in 2006, there were very few Realtors blogging across the U.S. let alone Loudoun County (there were less than a few dozen across the entire U.S. at the time).

Today, that number is much higher yet, LoudounScene.com and LoudounForeclosures.com continue to be one of the best and most up to date sources of local information and resources for home buyers, sellers, investors, residents and the mass media.

Thank you to all of you who have commented on and been loyal readers of LoudounScene.com and LoudounForeclosures.com. Without you, there would be no Loudoun Scene or Loudoun Foreclosures and I would not be able to say, “Celebrating 3 years!”

An End to Real Estate Brokerage “Junk Fees”?!

Are you sick of having to pay a brokerage firm an extra $149 to $395 “admin fee” (aka “junk fee”) on top of the thousands of dollars in commission you’re already paying them? Do you think it’s a bit unfair?

 Well, those “junk fees” may soon be illegal.

In a decision late last month in a class-action lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins in Birmingham, Ala., ruled that when a real estate firm charges clients an “admin fee”, for which no specific settlement services are performed, the fee violates federal law.

The case involved RealtySouth, one of the 20 major brokerage units of Minneapolis-based HomeServices of America, the second-largest realty firm in the country. RealtySouth was sued by home buyer Vicki V. Busby of Jefferson, Ala., when she was required to pay a $149 “ABC” fee — an administrative brokerage commission. The court found no evidence that the brokerage company performed any services beyond those covered by the commission, thereby violating a federal real estate settlement statutory ban against “unearned” fees.

Some brokerage firms say that the need this money to survive. For the sake of this post, let’s say I agree with that… The brokerage firm can charge their agents that “junk” fee, but why pass it along to the consumer? I understand if the agent is upset about having to pay that fee, but they shouldn’t take it out on consumers by passing the cost along to them – it’s not the consumer’s problem nor fault.

Warning. Shameless self-promotion coming…

I’m proud to say that the brokerage firm I’m a part of, Market Advantage Real Estate, LLC, doesn’t charge any such “junk fees”. And even if they did, I wouldn’t pass that cost along to my clients. I’m earning thousands of dollars in commission and don’t believe it’s fair for me to charge my clients any “junk fees” on top of that.

Source: Washington Post  -  Photo Credit