I get dizzy trying to read those posts. Moe, can you spend some of the 100k you made this year on some Capital Letters, please?

I'm not an English major, just a high school graduate. I didn't even graduate in the top 20% of my class. I was an average student, who got average grades. I guess I just learned what I was taught.

Good for you, you make lots of money. I just made almost $35,000 last week alone.

Whoop-de-doo.

Money comes and goes. Your point is...it's okay to appear illiterate or poorly educated as long as you make lots of money?

I've sold two places this year (totaling nearly $1.5M in price) thanks to open houses. One of them was an "I saw it on the internet and then drove by" sale, so he might have been captured through some other method. However, the other was a bona fide "Hey, there's an open house down the street, let's go have a look" buyer; they paid $600k+ in cash, AND I got the listing on their existing house too.

That certainly doesn't mean I enjoy holding open houses...but at least they've been reasonably productive, even if most of the time is spent doing other things to keep me awake during the slow stretches. I do cite NAR's data when doing listing presentations, and allow the seller to decide whether open houses are worth the trouble for them. I will certainly commit myself to doing open houses--but if the buyer doesn't want to, I certainly will have other things I could be doing.

On the tangential topic of spelling/punctuation/grammar...It's interesting that so many of the top producers in my area can't seem to put a string of words together in an email to form a legible sentence. I received an email from an agent a couple nights ago that was so poorly worded I couldn't even begin to understand what this person was saying. My clients expect me to be meticulous, and I honestly can't get my head around how I would convince a client I was able to write a clearly worded contract if I couldn't even put a coherent sentence together in writing. (That's not a dig. I'm genuinely curious how the more "syntax-impaired" among us get around that.)

It really comes down to what works for you. Realtors do generate business that way but it’s not for everyone.

Maybe it's a subliminal strategy to dumb things down to the level of the lowest common denominator.

The key is to intentionally make yourself appear foolish and inferior so that those around you can feel superior, and comfortable working with you ?

Who would've known that beneath all that vulnerability, these crafty people are actually "Sly as a Fox" ? I'm certainly not that clever.

Take a peak at "The deliberate dumbing down of America" by Iserbyt . . . . I guess it's working !

The beautiful thing about floor time at my broker is, it's completely voluntary. Every month, you let the office coordinator know when you are (or are not) available, and they set up a schedule populated with those who responded.

Keep in mind floor duty is just you working as your broker's receptionist, except without pay. It is not a perk to the agent but to the broker.

I cut my Real Estate Teeth doing floor time during a sloooow market.

A little over 20 years ago, I joined a small country brokerage in the center of a small Vermont Village. The principals didn't insist on Floor Time, nor were they willing to work anything other than Banker's Hours themselves. They really had no experience in what it means to hustle.

I took it upon myself to keep the Office manned every night until 6:30 or 7:00 PM to catch the "after work" crowd and all day on Saturday to catch the "week-end shopping" crowd. I also took the opportunity to open the Office up most weekday mornings at 7:30 or 8:00 AM, and put the old "OPEN" flag out front to welcome in the "on the way to work" crowd. I even opened the Office up on Sundays (after 12:00 Noon) to catch to "after church" crowd.

Doing this Floor Time also afforded me the opportunity to off-load incoming messages from the answering machine, and I made sure to take care of all new calls that weren't already working with someone else in the Office.

Other Agents didn't even have keys to the building (they probably never even asked for them), let alone appear to be running the show; they didn't have a clue as to what it takes to establish a foothold in this business. The Principals knew what I was doing, but were unwilling to stop me OR to do it themselves; they'd rather be home relaxing or out golfing, fishing, boating or watching a football game; they'd gotten fat and lazy during the good times. I think they knew what I was doing; but seemed powerless to make me do otherwise. Floor time was there for the taking . . . . so I took it.

After about 5 or 6 weeks, the results of my efforts started to bear "visible" fruit: My listings and pending transactions began to pile up and I even began Closing some of the business that originally just "walked in the door". Opportunity knocks, but someone has to be there to open the door. I just made sure I was there !

Too bad those guys didn't make enough money to keep the business afloat . . . . I was the only one making sales, and that couldn't feed them all plus pay their bills. Nice people; BUT NOT WORKERS! I always try to avoid ever tying my dinghy up to any sinking ship. When I refused to buy the business (including its debt), they withered up and died . . . . and I had to go elsewhere; but I was welcomed elsewhere (as long as I wasn't seen as a threat).

With a small business, remember, it's easier to grow than it is to shrink. My first brokerage had it easy in the beginning; but didn't know what to do when the market turned on them. It's an important lesson . . . . not to be learned the hard way.

But I digress . . . . One man's trash can be another man's treasure. Floor Time was very good to me!

I guess that depends on the brokerage because we have a receptionist 7 days a week all day 9 till 5pm. Agents only talk to leads or if they grab the phone when the receptionist stepped out to the mailbox or gets overloaded.

Our system has every call going to the agent whose listing generated the contact, whether it be email or phone. Unassigned calls are to be distributed evenly through the roster. Whether that happens is never to be known, but I seem to get my share. We do not see much 'walk in traffic.'

are you still doing floortime now?

any deals from it in the last 90 days?

Yes . . . . and Yes.

But I now live in the Office.

My Floor Time consists of 6½ Days per week; and of course, By Appointment.

I guess that depends on the brokerage because we have a receptionist 7 days a week all day 9 till 5pm. Agents only talk to leads or if they grab the phone when the receptionist stepped out to the mailbox or gets overloaded.

Ours is the same way. Floor people only handle screened calls 8:30-5.

thats why im asking how floor time generates leads..
cause if its a decent brokerage..if the buyer called off a listing
it goes to the listing agent..

The pros and cons of floor duty and open houses...the posts are beating a deadhorse - if it works for some, it works; but, not using proper English - either a person has a language problem or it could imply a certain lack of intelligence.

I can imagine the day an intelligent buyer or seller comes along, sees how indecipherable an agent's emails are and decides, even if it's just laziness to set a sentence properly, this agent is not for them. It would certainly make me wonder, if my doctor or lawyer could not type proper sentences. Although it may not, in any way reflect their capabilitiy to perform whatever they were licensed for, I'd still have a doubt in my mind.

Many times, it takes me awhile to type a post because I actually google certain words to be sure they are correct. I used to be excellent in spelling and grammar. I think some of my 'delay' in posting is due to reading so many posts, articles, etc., (not just in AOL) that are poorly written and I question my abilities due to the overexposure of poorly written sentences - so, I google. Even my local newspaper has errors, but, the editor does ask that the public notify them of any errors. Does anyone else ask this?

I don't know anyone on AOL, but I still care to make my posts as legible and understandable as possible. Laziness, in this aspect, may work for some in real estate, but, in the real corporate world, it doesn't work and most work in that real world.

i write and talk to them in proper english...look me up on trulia voices if you question my grammer or intelligence..

that being said,..this is why most agents are broke and starving..focusing on lil stuff that dont matter..this is a forum of agents..not doctors or lawyers..

i will say the last thing on that..i rather be earning six figures, than be some poor struggling english major egghead..just my own opinion..

Besides your arrogance, would your grammar from this website also be found along with your Trulia comments when a person googles you?

If you wrote something incorrectly in a contract offer that was accepted and it came back to haunt you via a complaint/your r.e.board, would they accept your answer (excuse) because you don't believe in English eggheads?

Just for the record, I had a sit down with my mentor today. He has over thirty years experience, started part-timein real estate, and is currently the Regional VP for our company. His first piece of advice for me was to sit as many open houses as I can to get going and get used to being in front of people talking real estate.

I heartily dislike cold calling and door knocking and please watch me poke myself in the eye with sharp sticks before I would ever do it. I hate it, I find it distasteful and because I hate getting cold calls myself, I would never do it. Ever.

"not to be rude..." Seriously?

"No offense", but you're being a condescending jerk. And I mean that in the nicest way possible.

And BTW, last month one of his properties sold DIRECTLY from the open house.

As for your "Top 30 Under 30" mentor...I gave those details to show my mentor's experience and why I trust his judgment, not to brag about either him, or myself.

[quote=jbsnadb]"not to be rude..." Seriously?

"No offense", but you're being a condescending jerk. And I mean that in the nicest way possible.

And BTW, last month one of his properties sold DIRECTLY from the open house.

As for your "Top 30 Under 30" mentor...I gave those details to show my mentor's experience and why I trust his judgment, not to brag about either him, or myself.

Well said, Dan.

Linden....I don't think you read my posts either. I have defended the cold callers from day one. I used to do it successfully and have been to a half a dozen Mike Ferry events myself. This was about 20 years ago.

All I am saying is for a new agent, open houses and floor time can be productive. Couple that with some prospecting, some mailing and some SOI networking and they can start to sell some houses. When they are ready to hit the big time they can do what you do, do what I do, do what Perky does, or do what Bigtoe does. Or they can think of something new,.

BTW, I am not a blogger. I have only written about 20 posts in the last 5 years... and 15 of them were in the first year. What I do is completely different. My website is a blog, but it has a lot of static pages that haven't changed at all in years.

There are lots of different ways to skin cats. Lots... and they are all valid. It's about mutual respect. Read my last post. I said I have mad respect for what you do.

and hate all you want..

::Sigh:: Rethinking whether I should even respond.

Linden, personally, I don't know enough about you to be a 'hater'. And well, I have neither the time or interest to find out more.

You have been very vocal about your opinions. This forum has given you a great platform on which to share your insights of the real estate industry. I'm sure MANY have learned from you and are very grateful for what you have to share. My point is that in the past, you have been very open about bashing anyone who differs in opinion with yours. For example, you have gone at length at how floor duty/open houses don't produce super stars. That's your opinion (which somehow you believe is based on factual evidence) and you are certainly entitled to it. I see that you have a lot to offer the members of this forum, but perhaps it's the way you go about making your points that are a bit unsavory. Clearly you are successful (after all, you keep telling us how you make so much more money than the rest of us), clearly you have pertinent information to share, but it's all on the delivery. I do wish you the best in all your endeavors and I hope you will continue to contribute to the Agents Online community.

Works for them and I'm happy for them. What I do works for me and I'm happy for me.

That would be silly for a broker to fire you because of lead generation, unless they're not getting any cut of the commission; otherwise, very dumb, word DOES get around.

In fact, I am still new to this. I never really got my own website STARTED until late 2007, and it didn't take me very long at all to get in the top of the search engines because I learned how to do it. Most of those links you are all agog over are from my signature in this forum; and my activerain blog. ROFL.

By the end of 2007 I had exactly 2 sales to my name - one was a personal referral and one was a lead I captured from my blog...I started blogging in March or April, got the lead in July, got fired for having a blog, started at a new office, kept the lead, and had that closing by December.

I also had gotten two listings from my blogging efforts, which get to the top of search engines IMMEDIATELY - if you do it right. you're hung up on page rank and back links and I don't give a rip about either of those.

You just wanna stay in that "newbies can't do it" frame of mind...to justify annoying people on the phone (LOL...just kidding)

And...google is ALWAYS changing, but one fact remains - content is king. If you have crappy content even if you rank well, PEOPLE won't care and they'll ignore your site and move to the next one.

When I said I don't give a hoot about backlinks I should have clarified - I am not focused on creating backlinks. They just happen...every time I post here, every time I post a blog. Every email I send out gets links in it, every profile page I have set up has my link in it. It really wasn't that much of an effort to get those links - yes it took time...but...consider this:

In MANY (if not most) markets, the majority of realtors are not internet savvy (shoot, many of the agents I know don't even have their own website, let alone a blog.) It is not that hard to rise to the top, though that will change if more young agents who grasp the idea of the internet come along and become competition.

At this point in time many agents are still in the "old school" frame of thought. In some markets (esp. in the Pacific Northwest, I'll bet) where tech is king, yeah, it will be harder to compete. But I daresay that many new agents can get right to the top right away for targeted key words if they try.

I'm always competing against zillow, trulia, and my own franchise...weichert.com. LOL. I know I'm not getting "all" the leads, I don't want them all. I snag the people who want a personal touch.

And it pays off in spades.

I totally agree it pays off..and is worth the effort..
like say you spent a half hour each day writing a good blogpost 500 words...
then a half hour of participating on forums that gives a backlink..like here and others. like commenting on other blogs...
thats 30 hours a month
if you did that 2 months straight and generate 1 sale
at 6,000
thats $100 per hour...

My broker at the time had forbidden agents from having their own websites. (didn't want any competition, of course). When I asked about if I could have a blog on ActiveRain, the broker was OK with that, thinking it was like MySpace I guess and I'd just be putting stupid stuff on it. I used it for lead generation, of course....and they found it and told me to take it down. I said no, I have a listing and several leads from it, I am not going to take it down...so they fired me.

I learned two valuable lessons: do not work for a competing broker, and make sure your broker allows you to have your own website lead generation. LOL

LOL, well, I have a VERY distinct way of doing business than Linden and view the industry differently, but I have to respect his methodical ways and how he analyzes every aspect of his business practice.

Yes, less than 1% sell at an Open House...

For an agent though - you know you are probably not going to sell that specific home - BUT, if you work the Open House correctly, you should get 2 more pieces of business on average from every Open House that you host.

You have to go after the buyers and the hidden gem from Open Houses... sellers!