Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Getting To the Winners Circle


Prior to being in real estate I was involved in the Sport of Kings. I would spend the summers and fall in the north, and winter in South Florida. I was a top trainer around PA & NJ tracks back in the 80’s and early 90’s and the leading trainer winning the most races in Atlantic City for a few seasons.

One of the most frequent questions asked of me when I got into real estate, was how did I handle the adjustment, as they were such different professions. My reply then as it still is, they are very similar, “We talk about money all day long.” Horse owners want to run their horses for more than they are worth and expect to win, they expect you to buy those horses for less than they are worth, in real estate sellers want you to list for more than their houses are worth, sell it, and find them a deal on a house when they wish to buy. My job is to bring them to reality.


During my early years in the sport I was employed by one of the top trainers in the northeast, Burton K. Sipp, what he taught has served me well in real estate. He would always say, “Put them in the winners circle and they won’t care about the price.” What he meant by this was simple get your horse owners to do the right thing by allowing you to run their horses for the right price in the right race so they win. In real estate it translates into, getting your sellers to list for the right price if they really want to sell, when buying, getting them to make a good offer on the house they want. At the end of the day they will have gotten them what they wanted, and you will have won another race or made another deal.

On the race track if you don’t win you get fired. The next trainer if he’s skilled at bringing them to reality he goes to the winners circle while you watch. . In real estate your listing expires and if the next agent who is hired is skilled in getting them to reduce he gets to the closing table and you don’t.

As a listing agent my goal was to bring them an offer as quickly as possible, and in order to do that I would hope that when I put them in the MLS, (equivalent to entering a horse in a race) they would be the favorite in the morning line to win or, in this case have a signed contract. If I am within the top 4 in price I would make sure that my listing was more easily accessible to the agents, getting me more showings, which would move me very close to that winners circle. Agents who can do this are usually very successful, and those that can’t don’t visit the closing table much, just like the horse trainers who don’t put their horses in the right race, they too don’t visit the winners circle often.


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