Archive for the 'Keller Williams Culture' Category
Homebuyers: Confused About What Move to Make in the Annapolis Real Estate Market? Then Put Together a Team
October 2nd, 2008 Categories: Buyers, Keller Williams Culture
Here’s The Street Sign Annapolis Area Homebuyers Are Seeing Most Frequently Nowadays. Here’s How to Deal With It
I read a blog post today that said Internet searches for the phrase “houses for sale” were at their highest point in 2 years. The author thought this an encouraging sign: investors, he speculated, are poised to step in at what looks like the bottom of the market, soon to be followed by everyone else who has been waiting for a signal that it’s the right time to buy.
Is he right? Are we bottomed out and about to experience a pent up homebuying rush?
I’m not sure, and I’m not sure anyone else is sure. But since we are out here in the trenches with actual homebuyers, we ARE sure of this: homebuyers are confused, overwhelmed by the negative news of the housing market and Wall Street bailouts. More than anything, buyers need to turn off the TV and seek the counsel of local, experienced professionals who can move them from fear and confusion to a sound, fact-based strategy for purchasing a home.
Putting Together a Team is a Homebuyer’s First Order of Business
If you’re considering purchasing - or selling - a home, do not wing it. To fully understand the ramifications of a real estate transaction, and to afford yourself all due protections, you need a team. First, seek the advice of a financial planner, preferably one with a strong real estate background. (We can arrange for a free consultation if you don’t have one.)
Second, establish a relationship with an experienced Realtor who will work his or her tail off for you and give you 5-star representation. (That would be us, or another Realtor who has earned your loyalty.) Your Realtor can be a key person in helping you put together your team.
Lastly, only work with an experienced, professional lender who comes highly recommended from a trusted source. Realtors know better than anyone which lenders are the real pros.
That’s the core of your team: Realtor, financial planner, lender. If putting together a team sounds like work, well, it is. But especially in this market, you can’t afford not to. We have a saying at Keller Williams: Nobody succeeds alone. Those cowboy days are long gone, pardner.
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Here’s Proof, Annapolis, That Keller Williams Agents Really Are Out For Blood
June 16th, 2008 Categories: Keller Williams Culture
So Roll Up Your Sleeves and Hop Aboard the AAMC Blood Mobile at Our KW Office This Coming Thursday, June 19th
I normally try to keep a safe distance from anything that involves sharp objects and blood, especially my own.
The notable exception is once every few months when we - The Moss Haedrich Team - help to organize a community blood drive at our office. Our local area needs roughly 7,300 units of blood each year and it takes work and a small army of volunteer donors to keep the supply from running low. We’re glad to do our part and help rally some troops for the effort.
Incidentally, all the blood that’s donated to the Anne Arundel Medical Center’s Blood Donor Center - and that includes the blood mobile program - stays right here in the community, where it is used for more than 3,000 life saving transfusions each year.
If you’d like to help out and pitch in a pint, the AAMC Blood Mobile will be parked at our office at 7 Old Solomons Island Road this Thursday, June 19th, from 10:00AM to 1:00PM. In addition to plenty of moral support for big sissies like myself, they’ll be refreshments on hand. As a bonus, you’ll get a free mini-physical including blood pressure and temperature checks, blood iron level test, and cholesterol screening. All good stuff to know.
You can just show up if you like - well hydrated, please - but if you’d like to reserve a 15 minute time slot, or have any other questions, call me directly 410-507-7222. Thanks, and we look forward to seeing you there.
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Me and My Big Why
May 28th, 2008 Categories: Buyers, Keller Williams Culture, Sellers
At Keller Williams, We Are Encouraged to Think About Our Mission and Purpose in Life. It’s Called Our Big Why, and Here’s Why I Think It Matters
Several years back, on my first day in real estate, I sat down with the team leader of the Keller Williams office here in Annapolis. I signed some papers, had a stack of books and a training schedule handed to me, and then this:
So Ken - tell me about your Big Why.
Sorry? It sounded like she thought I owned a ranch in Montana, The Big Y.
Your Big Why. Why are you here? What’s the one thing that gives meaning and purpose to your life more than any other?
Well, I hadn’t really considered it. And truth be told, I thought the question was a bit lofty for someone who hadn’t even learned to use the office copier yet, let alone sell a single house. But I was new, eager to make my mark, and vaguely recall mumbling something about the opportunity to help people and make a decent living in the process.
Read pages 72 and 73 in there, she said, pointing at one of the books she had just handed me. That will help you figure it out.
Gary Keller, on The Focusing Power of a Big Why
The book in question is one we at Keller Williams refer to as “the red book” - The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, written by our company’s co-founder, Gary Keller.
Sure enough, right there on page 72 was this: “…we’ve discovered that the one thing that all high achievers have in common is they are working for a Big Why. The Big Why is about having a purpose, a mission, or a need, that in turn gives you focus. High achievers always have a Big Why powering their actions.”
I was intrigued, and followed the exercise Gary outlined, writing down everything that motivated me. I was underwhelmed: to my eye, what I had written looked like a ragtag group of Little and Medium Whys. There wasn’t a Big Why in sight. A life of insignificance loomed before me. I had better get digging for a Big Why, and fast, if I wanted to be a high achiever too.
The Power Behind Being the Best You Can Be
I didn’t realize it at the time, but - as Gary went on to explain - there is nothing wrong with a collection of lesser whys: we all have to pay our mortgage or rent, fund retirement accounts, help put our kids through college.
But those - and all of our smaller whys, says Gary - will fall into place naturally if we simply put this one Big Why at the forefront of all others: to be the best we can possibly be. A powerful Big Why like this, he points out, gives foundational support to all of your other whys. It’s like geese flying in formation: the lead goose expends all the energy, while the others draft behind with much less effort.
“Being your best” he goes on to say, “is actually a goal-less pursuit. You can never really reach a point where you can truthfully say, ‘I just can’t grow anymore.’ And what is so exciting about that is this kind of Big Why can create a life that literally explodes with limitless possibility and unlimited growth.”
All Those Big Whys Help Build Stronger Communities
One of the things I love about Keller Williams is the large number of individuals we attract who have a Be the Best You Can Be mentality. That’s not really surprising, given the fact that KW agents have - at their disposal - all of the tools and training necessary for achieving greatness. Read the rest of this entry »
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