A day in the life of...

Everybody knows that if somebody got to live a day in their job they would suddenly have significantly more respect for that job and the people who do it. I happen to work in a field that fills its own section of the newspaper, gets the "most emailed" status on Boston.com on a regular basis and generates millions upon millions of dollars in advertising revenue for all sorts of people and businesses. I spent a whole sick-day (we don't actually get those) on my couch watching real estate tv shows on about seven different networks. Obviously people are interested, and many think they know what goes into the process. What gets overlooked often is that the majority of the country hasn't actually worked with a REALTOR in the last 5+ years. For some, jobs don't change much in 5 years. I can tell you right now that the way I have to do my job has changed a lot in the last 5 months. So, I'll risk boring the 30-50 people who will see this today by describing a day in the life of a REALTOR.

6:15 AM - Up with the dog and a check of the Broker Open House schedule for mid-day.

8:00 AM - Tessie goes to Doggy Day Care every Wednesday to free me up for Broker Tour and our in-office afternoon round-table training session.

8:15 AM - I can't speak for America, but I run on Dunkin'

8:45 AM - Arrive at the office for "floor time." To ensure informed people are available to answer the phone in our office we each have 1-2 three hour time slots a week in which we sit at the front desk and take "floor calls."

9:15 AM - Confirm final list for Broker Tour and make sure my listing is positioned well on the list.

9:30 AM - Prepare Sunday Globe Ad. We try to advertise 3 out of every 4 weekends in print and then distribute to all of the various sites. Our Globe ads usually generate 1 out of 8 open house guests each weekend. This is a major expense and a big answer to "where does the 5% go" question. Unfortunately Globe ads are seen more by sellers checking up on their agents and less by the buyers who might be interested in taking a look.

9:45-10:45 - Scan the major listing search sites like Craigslist, Trulia, Zillow, etc... and make sure that the listing information is accurate and up to date. While I do this I cross reference the MLS listing and the LINK (Downtown Boston MLS) listing. If I get the listing into LINK by Wednesday the open house will be featured in the weekend version of Boston Homes.

10:45-12:00 - Review of new, price changed, expired, withdrawn and under agreement property on MLS. While Thursday is a good day to add most property, the savvy agents will post on Wednesday to get a pre-Open House buzz going during broker tours. Also, since most Globe ads are due by the end of the day a lot of the price changes will go into the computer system today. I use the new information to touch base with my selling clients to use for pricing comparison. For my buyer clients I try to put in initial phone calls on listings that look like they might be potential matches. Without the benefit of going to weekend Open Houses to view available property it is critical that I know as much as possible at all times what has changed about the marketplace. The two listing presentations I've done this week would not have been possible without knowing this information off the top of my head.

12:30-2:00 - Broker Open House at my listing. This once or twice monthly opening is essential to allow brokers to not only preview the listing and hopefully mention it to their buyers, but more importantly to gain their feedback on pricing and condition. I build a list of comments that I try to convey to the seller. These comments help us make any changes in advance of the open house leaving my sellers in a good position to compete with the other listings in their range.

2:15-3:15 - Weekly office round-table discussion about market strategies and difficulties. This week we discussed methods for developing an appropriate amount of urgency on the part of buyers or sellers who might be on the fence.

3:30 - 4:30 - Returning phone calls on showing requests and feedback from my buyers' viewings of other listings over the weekend. Friday - Sunday get very busy so Wednesday and Thursday are the only prep days we get for the weekend. Tomorrow morning I'll have to produce all of my print marketing for the Open House and showings. I'll also be in a meeting of the Greater Boston Association of REALTORS Tech Committee, so this phone time is a critical element to ensuring my schedule is freed for my clients.

5:00 - 7:30 - This is the time left open most days for after-work showings. Most buyers in the initial phases of their search don't take time off from work to view property the first time. Any time they become interested in a specific property a daytime second showing will usually occur.


While every day is different in real estate, and most days are a reflection of the needs of the specific clients I am working with at the time I try to stick to this template as much as possible. In the past the prevalent attitude was less focused on the constant evaluation of active listings because listings didn't remain active that long. Today the average days on market is close to 100 and there is a constant effort needed by all parties to make sure that time frame stays as small as possible.

Have you ever sold a car?

I attended a training program last week that I was reminded of yesterday. As many of you might not know, Wednesdays are "Broker Tours" for Brookline property. Since many agents are busy with clients and customers on the weekends, Wednesday is the day we get to preview listings in an open house style visit. I walked into a new listing near Brookline Village and was greeted by a dirty, empty room and wood floors in absolutely horrible condition. If this were a vacant condo I could overlook the emptiness, but the owners were still living here. They had all of their furniture crammed into the two bedrooms and the living room, and had a lovely dining room space that was bare and dusty.

My question: Have they ever sold a car?

When you sell or trade in a car you most likely spend the day before bringing it to the dealership getting the car detailed, cleaned inside and out and repair any nagging issues. You make sure that the second you drive into the dealership the car is looking better than it ever has. The papers and leaves are all removed, the floor mats are clean, and everything looks and smells shiny and new. You take a little extra time because you know that it will directly improve the price someone's willing to pay.

So why is it that homeowners don't do these things? I know in some cases I am preaching to the choir, but there is this mentality out there that lets people think they can just throw a sign on their lawn, open the door and leave it to the agent to work magic. Then, if it doesn't sell the agent must be a failure. In this case the homeowner has given the agent absolutely no shot. The first impression someone gets by walking into this condo is that it's been neglected. The owners don't care, they're not willing to do the things necessary to show the condo. How willing are these owners going to be to negotiate? Are they even serious about selling? All of a sudden these are the things going through our head, not "wow, does this space fit what I'm hoping to find?"

Instead of sitting there making jokes about the condition of the property I went around with another agent and took a look at what furniture was available for the empty room. While it was clearly a dining space at one point we were able to find a desk, a lovely chair, a bookshelf and some end tables which turned this barren, dirty space into a lovely sitting room and office. We did not spend a penny, we did not disrupt the homeowner at all, and we did it all in about 20 minutes. Now all of a sudden the horrible floors didn't stand out so much, the space looked livable and the condo felt like maybe it could become someone's home. We uncluttered an overcrowded bedroom by removing the desk and shelf, we added flow to the living room by moving the chair and we most likely brought the value of this space back in line with the asking price the sellers were hoping to get. This is staging. This is why you need an agent who understands property around you. This is why I spend my valuable time earning certifications like my Home Staging Specialist designation.

Next time you are about to display your house to the public, think about selling a car and compare your preparation. It will make you money.

What Commission Do You Charge?

It is amazing how many conversations about real estate start with that question. It baffles me to this day that this is the one field in which people think they can make a decision simply by how much money the professional practitioner will "charge" them. It gets asked other ways, like "what's your fee" and "how much will it cost me" but at the end of the day, it speaks to a backward mentality.

Let's run through an exercise here: You get a big bonus at work this holiday season and you decide you want to buy a fancy new car. Let's say you spend $80,000 on that car. When it comes time for that first service are you going to go from random mechanic to mechanic and ask them what their rate is? You'll most likely take it to someone who you have heard has specific expertise with that model car, and you'll most likely pay a lot more than the random mechanic who would have done who-knows-what to your car.

An even better example is picking a place to eat dinner. Do you open the yellow pages, start at the A's and call asking "what's the price of food?" First, there are steaks and lobster which will be a whole lot more expensive than burgers and fish sticks. There will also be places which will give you $7 steak and I seriously doubt you would feel comfortable eating it. The simple "what's the price of food" question just makes NO sense. If you feel like a steak, you're going to the Capital Grille or Abe & Louie's.

So, what commission do I charge? It's impossible to know. I need to see what type of house or condo you have, and then we need to have a serious discussion about your pricing before we can determine how in-depth we need to get with your marketing campaign. From there, we build out a marketing calendar and we decide which types of floor plans and virtual tours you will need.

The one important thing to look at is the agent representing your sale does not get 5-6% of the sale of your house. All agents should be cooperating with buyer's agents. This usually takes half of the commission amount. Next, most agents split their commissions with their offices who pay for Globe and Boston Homes ads, certain Open House materials and other incidental costs. I will say, on average, I am looking at maybe 1.5% of the overall sale price of your house before I even start doing my own personal marketing efforts for your house (floor plans, fliers, post cards, catered broker tours, etc...). Remember, all of these things are paid up front whether your home sells or not. So yes, maybe there is someone out there willing to give you a "rebate" or "charge" you a lower commission, but I assure you the Globe isn't charging them less than me for advertising and the floor plans I pay for aren't offered to them for less money either. By hiring that agent for less money, I will ask you.....how much will that cost you?

William Raveis Breast Cancer Research Fund

I want to take a quick second to direct attention to the link in the upper left of this page. September is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and William Raveis Real Estate is holding a raffle fundraiser. Details on the prizes can be found by clicking the logo and tickets can be ordered by sending me your contact info through the link below the logo.

Just a little snapshot of what Raveis has done this year:

Highlights of 2007:
• A $100,000 William Raveis Young Investigator Grant was presented to Dr. Maysa Abu-Khalaf, MD, Yale University, to support important research of biomarker validation in patients with HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer treated with Rapamune to overcome resistance to the HER2 targeted therapy, Herceptin
• $10,000 was earmarked specifically for the Navigator Care Program at the UConn Health Center, which pairs newly diagnosed breast cancer patients with trained volunteers who assist them through the entire treatment process
• A total of $180,000 was donated to the Breast Cancer Alliance, Greenwich, CT; Dana-Farber Women’s Cancers Center, Boston, MA; and the Ray and Carol Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at the UConn Health Center, Farmington, CT.

We’re battling breast cancer and gaining ground, but still…
• Breast cancer incidence in women has increased from one in 20 in 1960 to one in eight today
• Nationwide, an estimated 40,000 will die from breast cancer this year
• Breast cancer is the leading cause of death for women aged 45-55 in the United States
• All women are at risk for breast cancer. Approximately 90% of women who develop breast cancer do not have a family history of the disease.


A portion of all commissions earned by William Raveis Sales Associates is donated to the Research Fund, and this is another opportunity to help make a difference. Please take a second to consider it, or pass the information along to someone else.

Thank you!