All posts by Robert Bevans

–Demonstrate your commitment to your customers–An “E” for effort matters!!!!

A while back, when I was just starting my practice, I read an article about a survey done in Missouri (not my home state) concerning impressions that clients had of attorneys whom they had previously retained. The point of the article was that most respondents said that their attorneys were competent; they knew the law. What made most people decide whether an attorney was good or bad, at least for them, was the clients perception of the amount of effort that their attorney was devoting to their matter. Did the attorney specifically ask his secretary to “hold all calls” during our first meeting? Did the attorney make a phone call or phone calls while the client was in the office after a first meeting to demonstrate that this is an important enough matter for him or her to get started on, right away? Did the attorney send copies of ALL correspondence to the client, so the client was kept informed on progress on his or her matter?

We now have tools which speed up communication. it is easier to keep clients informed with emails and cell phones. But, have these means of communication really assisted us in communicating? The answer to that question depends on the professional. We can do a better job of communicating now, and show the effort that sets us above the ordinary, if we are not lazy or hesitant. People use our services because we are experts. The way we show this is by representing them imaginatively and consistently. It doesn’t help if we have a cell phone if we don’t return calls. What good are unresponded emails?

After more than 40 years of practicing law, I am just beginning to get it. Your clients and customers want to feel important. They want to feel cared for. You have the tools; you need to apply them and let your clients understand just how very talented you are and why they are so lucky to have you on their side.

Make it Harder to Get Married; Easier to get Divorced—Off Topic, but Relevant

In his “Your Money” segment in the New York TIMES (Saturday, October 24, 2009 edition) Ron Lieber discussed “Four Talks About Money to Have Before Marriage”. His point was that a couple’s ancestry, credit, control and affluence have an impact on the future success of their marriage. The more their prior experiences in these areas deviate, the better chance there is that they will not be a successful married couple, and will eventually split up and divorce.

My belief is that “talks” are not enough. I have seen marriages crack at the seems when one spouse finds out that the other has $60,000 of credit card debt, which the newly married person is assuming to pay, one way or another. Perhaps, if that spouse had known about the debts, he or she would have said, “you know, before we try to buy a home, we should get these old debts paid”. Perhaps, her or she would have taken even a tougher approach. “let’s not marry until we are on a strong financial footing, and you have addressed this problem.

Indirectly, or directly, the financial problems of a married couple affect our industry. If discovery of hidden financial problems shows up when the couple is trying to get a mortgage, the deal may not go through. On the other hand, it may go through, but only with the use of one spouse’s credit score, and this type of leverage can lead to lasting resentments on a going forward basis. There are myriad circumstances where newly discovered financial problems are the cause of a couple’s falling behind on their mortgage, and eventually facing foreclosure.

My solution to this problem is straightforward. Do not permit a couple to marry until each spouse has submitted a current financial statement, which is sworn to under the pains and penalties of perjury. If there is fraud in this document, the innocent spouse should be able to get out of the marriage and not be required to pay alimony. The non-offending spouse should be able to keep what he or she brought into the marriage, no questions asked. There should be a three year period where this situation obtains. After that, both spouses will, or should, know what their financial situation truly is.

Sick kids at college or working away from home–Protection you can still Offer when they need help!!!

Among the learning experiences for parents with children away at college is the fact that having reached the age of 18, your child is no longer your ward, and you are no longer your child’s legal guardian.  That doesn’t mean that cannot pick up the tab for tuition, room and board, but you are not, as of right, entitled to see your child’s grades, and you are not, as of right, entitled to be informed of health issues confronting your child or to make medical decisions for your child.

The grade issue can be circumvented by interaction with your child. The health considerations are a little bit more complicated and require some forethought.  The three  documents that will assist you in being in position to help your child in medical emergencies, or even routine medical decisions, are a Health Care Proxy (which gives you the right to make “informed consent” decisions for your child),  the FICCA form (which gives you access to your child’s medical records) and Durable Powers of Attorney (which gives to the right to sign documents and take other actions on behalf of your child, when he or she is unable to do so).  These documents are part of our standard Estate Planning package when we assist our clients with their own issues. We are now suggesting that the appropriate execution of these forms become part of your checklist for sending your child away to college and, realistically, when they start a new job or position in a remote location

Wherever you are located, we, at Topkins & Bevans, can either prepare these forms for you, and supervise their proper execution or locate someone in your state to do same, all for a minimal fee. With the reticence that many medical and educational institutions have developed to release information and records, the Health Care Proxy, HIPPA Form and Durable Powers of Attorney have become “don’t leave home without it” items. Don’t wait until you have a frantic child on the phone that you really cannot help at all without the expense and frustration of climbing into a plane or your car to be there, in person!!!

I would be interested in feedback from the ActiveRain community whether they feel that this projection is important and what type of price-points would make you want to have the documents in place, or encourage your friends and business acquaintances to do so. Thanks for a comment, if you find the time.

The pampered Buyer–Things we can still do to get the deal done

With all the commotion about the First Time Buyer Tax Credit, and doom and gloom news from our newspapers and TV stations, it is no wonder that the Buyer now believes he or she is in the driver’s seat. No request is unreasonable; after all, most of the Sellers are on the brink of foreclosure, and they will do anything to make the deal.

We all know that, if anything, the real estate market is firming up, and in some places starting to percolate. I am aware of competitive bids for properties in some locations in Massachusetts. So, Buyer beware!!!  You are not as much in control as you think. That being said, I suggest the following tactics for Buyer’s agents and attorneys for the Buyer:

    1. Work on educating your consumer. Tell your Buyers that it is a strong market, but unless they exercise some degree of reason, they will continue to lose out on properties which they want but feel compelled to exact too many price, and other concessions. It probably would not hurt to let your Buyer know that interest rates are at historic lows. If they delay their purchase indefinitely, the home they can afford today may be out of their financial reach tomorrow.

    2. Have a good handle on values.  Most of you, and I, are not professional appraisers. On the other hand,it behooves all of us to know the real value of the property we are involved with and giving that information to the potential Buyer. Sometimes, this valuation can straighten an aggressive Buyer out. If he or she bargains to hard, or too long, he or she will lose a property at an advantageous price. Knowing real values is an important part of our professiona, and that knowledge can really assist you when your Buyer “acts up”.

Shut Out by the Restrictive FNMA/FNMLC Condo Financings Rules–Another Option you Can explore

In the course of representing a developer of a 6 Unit Condominium in Boston, I may have uncovered some information that can be helpful to the ActiveRain community. There is a lender out there who will make FNMA type loans (not portfolio) on projects which the lender, itself, certifies to its own satisfaction. This lender does its own “due diligence” and decides whether the project is acceptable.  There are some conditions (of course), the most important of which is that the certification must be while the project is in a “pre-sale” mode.

That means that this lender will not certify older, existing condominiums where the owner-occupancy standards are not met, only newly marketed units. Nonetheless, having a financing source for the many still unsold projects which are really not “saleable” may be worth your while to explore.

For obvious reasons, I prefer not to broadcast the lender in question. If any of my New England readers want to get more details, contact me at etopkins@topbev.com. I am glad to give out the referral; I just am not authorized to broadcast it.

Elliott Topkins

www.topkinsandbevans.com

The $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Credit–If Your Clients Have Already Closed on their Purchase, They Can Get the Credit Back from Uncle Sam Right Away

For all of you who have clients who qualify for the First Time Home Buyer Credit, there is great news from the IRS. According to IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman, “this special tax feature can put money in their  (the “Buyers”) pockets right now rather than waiting another year to claim the tax credit. This important change gives qualifying homeowners cash they do not have to pay back.”

The amount of the credit will “phase out” to taxpayers whose adjusted gross income is more than $75,000 or $150,000 for joint filers. This still leaves a large universe of eligible people who can get cash back as soon as their amended 2008 return is processed.

For those readers of this post in Massachusetts, please be aware that I have located a reliable Massachusetts-based tax accountant who will prepare an amended 2008 Tax retrurn for eligible individuals on favorable payment terms. Contact me if you wish, and I will put you in touch.

This immediate opportunity for your Buyers to get cash right away seems like a great chance for you to re-connect and give your Buyers the good news. We always say we will do this, but this is a golden opportunity that should not be overlooked.

If Your Posts are not “Singing in the ActiveRain”, there is Only One Solution–Write Some more Posts

I have been writing posts for ActiveRain since February, 2009. I have had a few featured posts; I have had many more which did not evoke any reader interest. ironically, the posts I wrote which became “featured” were not what I considered my best, or even most original. Others, which I absolutely thought would get people making comments,proved to be duds. My observations on this phenomena, and on my involvement with ActiveRain in general,  are as follows:

     1. ActiveRain Nation is one diverse group of people. A lot of you practice real estate in states where attorneys are not very much involved. Accordingly, some of my comments about situations I have experienced are not of much interest to you.

     2. The posts which you have responded to most actively involve situations where strategy is involved. Strategy and planning are two aspects of our profession which people relate to. So if I discuss some of the marketing initiatives our firm has instituted, or the virtues of “walking away” from transactions, you responded actively and with many interesting comments.

     3. There are a lot of smart and motivated people logging in to ActiveRain every day. I enjoy other people’s posts, and I believe been able to learn a lot from them.  In terms of the posts which I have written, some of your comments have been somewhat “anti-attorney”. Most, however, have been helpful and constructive.

Bottom line to all of you, I intend to keep sending in posts and trying to keep them lively and on point.I do not have the luxury of having something tangible to sell, like a piece of real estate whch I have listed. I just need to come up with ideas that are new and appeal to you. i welcome the challenge, and thank those many of you who have been responding to my better efforts.

Golf as Life–Things 18 holes in the sunshine can tell you about yourself and those you play with

I am an avid golfer, and I have been so since the age of six years. My fondest memories of my youth are the late afternoons and early evenings I spent walking around the golf course with my dad, who taught me how to play, and how to behave on a golf course. As I developed a career as an attorney specializing in real estate law in Massachusetts, I have continued playing golf and using golf as an opportunity to network with current, and hopefully future, clients. These are some of my observations about golf as a marketing tool which I want to share with you:

     1. I never, ever talk real business matters on a golf course. If I am playing with you, I have committed to giving you a rest from the hectic business life you lead. I may speak about your family, or your job, but I do not discuss mortgage, or purchase and sale agreements, or anything that can be viewed as self promotion.

     2. Four hours on a golf course with a group of people you do not know well can tell you a lot of things about these people. Do they count all their strokes? What kind of losers are they? Can they make a bad shot and put it aside? Do they realize that other people are on the course to have fun, too, and not just themselves? I also find out what kind of winners they are. Do they gloat? Do they try to teach others when they really are not equipped to do so? I can learn a lot about them, and they won’t really know why I have chosen to pursue them as clients or associates after the round.

     3. Most important of all, I have found out a lot about myself on the golf course. My golf game, when I was a six handicap, used to be all about me. Now, especially, as my skills have diminished, my golf game is about the others in my group enjoing themselves and enjoying my company. This has been a profound lesson, and has helped to shape me as a person.

I am sure many of you have differing golf experiences,  which i would be interested in hearing about. Suffice it to say, I have been able to use my love of golf as a way to advance my life goals, and that is a bonus that I never anticipated.

If you Can’t “Walk”, You Can’t Negotiate–Never Truer Than It is Today

These are turbulent times in our industry. More attention than usual has been thrust on real estate because of the generous first-time owners tax credits and other incentives which are being offered to Buyers. A new HUD-1 Settlement procedure goes into effect on January 1, 2010. The thrust of this new procedure is to protect the “unwary”. Never in my long career in residential real estate have I seen a group of Buyers with a greater sense of “entitlement”. Couple that attitude with a general decline in home prices, and you can have a problem on your hands if you are selling property.

I am finding more and more that the only answer to this situation for my Sellers is to “walk”. In other words, while my client wants to make the deal, he or she needs to show that there are limits to what is reasonable. The only way to articulate this position is to say ” I have had enough”: ” I am putting the property back on the market.”

A recent example. A client of mine thought she had a deal to sell a beautiful piece of raw land in a scenic spot in southeastern Massachusetts. The price was agreed upon, and it looked like the deal was done. The Buyer was planning on putting a second home on the property. The attorney for the Buyer drafted a Purchase and Sale Agreement which was better suited to a multi-unit development than the purchase of a single lot piece of property. I told my client to “walk”. Turn the deal around. Tell the Buyer that this is not a game for his lawyer to show how accomplished he was at drafting. The strategy worked. The other lawyer was cut down a peg or two. We brought the deal back to reality.

It is not easy to tell your client that the best strategy is to walk away. Some Sellers are close to desperate. I truly believe that it is at these times that we, as real estate professionals, earn our stripes. You will be surprised at how quickly the tables turn when the Buyer finds out that his or her dream house is not going to be his or hers.

Finding the Perfect Fit–A Great Referral Will pay you back Many Times Over

The wisdom I am about to impart did not come to me in a dream, or in a flash. I learned what I am about to inform you through experience and disappointment. Early in my career, I gave out referrals like popcorn if I knew the person and I knew he or she did what the person asking was looking for, I gave the referral. I did no check. I had no quality control. Once in a while I was lucky, and the referral worked out. More often than not, that was not the case. The great tennis partner, who happened to be a CPA, spent far too much time on his backhand. The next door neighbor who was also a Realtor was really a “play act” Realtor, who worked when she wanted to and returned phone calls when it was convenient for her.

What is the lesson here? Do not give referral sources until you have first-hand knowledge of the person’s likeliood to perform. Ask the person for references from satisfied customers or clients. Do as much “due diligence” on this person as if you were going to use the person, yourself.

The reality of a referral is simple. By giving a client or a customer a referral, you are giving that person a part of yourself. You are telling the client that you will stand behind the person you refer. You are assuring the customer that the person you are suggesting they use can do what is required. You are not giving a Tax Accountant an engagement in Auditing. You are not giving a trial lawyer a referral in real estate.

If you are careful, and niggardly (I might add), in your referrals, and you really believe in them, you will enhance your standing with the customer or client. If you are anything else, you stand an excellent chance of damaging your career. That is a huge risk.

Do the work before you give the name!!!!!