CHAPTER 1
Stay Out of Real Estate Jail
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Congratulations on purchasing Stay Out of Real Estate Jail. Between this book and theinformation you can own and download from my website at www.barbarabellolsen.com youare going to be able to jumpstart your terrific career in real estate—or, if you are a seasonedpro, you are going to be able to rejuvenate, refresh and build on what you have alreadyaccomplished. Your business will explode, as will your bank account.
If you are anything like me, you have started reading this book on this page and omittedreading the foreword, the preface and the disclaimer. I strongly urge you to go back and startby reviewing the information in front of this chapter. The editors who have helped me reworkthis book numerous times suggest storytelling should be in a specific order. That means thereis information in the previous sections that will help you understand why some items andideas are presented in a specific style or order. I always jump to the meat and potatoes, butI now realize the importance of starting right at the beginning of the book.
You will see that I have been successful, become a nominee, bought my own franchise andbuilt my own "boutique style" office building in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I ampresently a managing broker for a large Canadian franchise brokerage, and I write and teachcourses—including four levels of "Writing Enforceable Contracts" and a full-day course called"Multiple Offers"—as an outside approved accredited instructor for our British Columbia RealEstate Association.
Most people have a hobby. It could be fishing, hunting, boating, cooking, arts and crafts,or many other wonderful interests. I love cooking and trying out new recipes, but I seem tohave a passion for the real estate profession that keeps on growing. My mind must be a bitweird, because I love the intricacies of our industry. I have a knack for it, and the informationseems to stay in my brain. I often tell my students that I have no life. I enjoy and thrive onhow to better improve our profession, how to improve our image and more importantly, howto help my fellow colleagues.
It has almost become an obsession with me, to the point that I believed it was time toput pen to paper and share my knowledge with those who truly want to become the crèmede la crème. This book and my website were over three and a half years in the making, butnow it is closer to four years. I was so used to teaching and being able to verbally explain mywritten material that I honestly had trouble writing this, because I kept forgetting I won't bepersonally reviewing it with you.
That's where the editors were of huge help in having me reorganize and re-edit everythinga number of times. They showed me that I must be explicit and definitive in what theprocedures and methods are, and I need to remember we won't be chit-chatting about theparticular subject. If ever you have questions or concerns, you are more than welcome toe-mail me at barbarabellolsen@shaw.ca, and I will try to be of assistance. I am just so verylucky that I can now share my methods and information with you.
There are not very many agents who want to be a managing broker. For one, the pay isnowhere near what you make by selling real estate, and the job is that of looking after theagents in your brokerage. I personally love it.
Managing brokers are given the authority and information to make decisions in a timelymanner and oversee the brokerage operations and those of their agents. They ensure that thebrokerage business is carried out competently and in accordance with the Act, regulations,rules and bylaws, and also ensure that there is an adequate level of supervision for agentsand for employees and others who perform duties on behalf of the brokerage.
When my agents don't understand something or need some help, I will do everything Ican to assist them. When I have to think outside the box to help them, I really thrive on that.There is almost always a solution, and together we will work through the problem and solveit. It is so great to be able to help.
I get to assist with educating both our new agents and our experienced agents, and I amresponsible for reviewing their contracts and making sure they are current with the rules andregulations. As part of my duties, I send a note about any errors or items that may becomeof concern in the future so that they are up to date and know for the next time. I hate doingthis, but it is part of my managing broker requirements, and my salespeople know I am onlytrying to help them for another contract they may prepare that may have the same items orconcerns. Thank goodness they understand and don't take it personally, knowing it is whatis required of me.
This is the perfect career stage for me. As I said earlier, I have never worked a day in mylife since entering real estate, and I absolutely love working with sales agents and people andbeing able to help them.
That too led to this book. It was time to reveal and share everything I have ever learnedwith the world. Why not? There is absolutely no sense in all this valuable information stayinglocked in my brain. I want to help make you the best you can be, and it is so very easy ifyou follow the proven methods I am going to recommend you utilize. I am going to give youthe best support system and explain how to put a Contract of Purchase and Sale togetherwithout really having to think about it. Everything is also available on my website so you canown and download a word-processing file and copy and paste what you need after editingthe statements, subjects, property specifics and the like.
When you are writing a Contract of Purchase and Sale, your life can be easy, but youneed checklists and forms to make it that way. The public will be so impressed by yourthoroughness and your professional, ethical and careful attention to detail that they will bethrilled to have you as their real estate agent. They will feel safe. They will know what toexpect because you walked them through the entire process. They will know you care andare protecting them.
Often, agents can get scared or frightened when asked to write a contract. You may worrythat you'll mess it up, and that is one of the main reasons for problems in our industry. It is soeasy to forget something, or you go too fast or sometimes get a little overwhelmed preparingthe contract. It can be nerve-racking. Some have told me they are almost paralyzed when itis time to write the contract. You want to protect the public and yourself.
With the help I'll give you in this book, you won't have to experience that dreaded feelingin your gut when you're asked to prepare a contract. You won't question what you have todo and what statements, clauses and subjects to use. You will have so much knowledge,confidence and skill that you will easily take your clients to the successful closing of theirpurchase or sale, and you will retain them for life. Your business will soar to any level youwant. How successful do you want to be? It is up to you after you read and implement thefollowing superior structured procedures into your everyday business plan.
Whether you are new to our industry or a seasoned professional, you can do and beanything you set your mind to if you implement the timesaving, unique and inspiring conceptsoffered in this book.
CHAPTER 2
Learn Your Craft
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Pilots do not set out on a flight course without first following their checklists and proceduresand verifying that they have done everything perfectly. They cannot afford to forget somethingand thank goodness for that.
You have chosen to specialize in an ever-changing profession. There is so much toremember that you need checklists and forms to make it easier. This includes predoneContracts of Purchase and Sale and addendums with all the required wording prepared andready to go.
If you do not take the time to learn your craft and continually upgrade and educateyourself, you could run into problems by making mistakes. It is easy to do with all thedisclosure requirements and the introduction of new legislation. Real estate is a very seriousbusiness, but you can have so much fun and success if you are organized, know what you aredoing and have your own business plan incorporating the simple methods introduced here.
You will be someone who is proud, confident and excited while being ethical, professionaland knowledgeable. Obviously, this means you will be thrilled with the contracts you prepare,and your business will grow with satisfied and happy clients who will tell everyone how greatyou are. Your bank account will begin increasing by leaps and bounds. It's perfect, and it is allup to you. What more could anyone want?
It would be pretty dangerous if a pilot didn't use his checklists and procedures, and itis the same for us. So let's make our professional occupation one of perfection and worktogether, all the while protecting our clients and customers.
Real Estate Jail—Fact or Fiction?
Fiction—we do not have a "real estate jail" per se, but we do have to face our authorities atdifferent levels if there is ever a complaint filed against us. It is not a pleasant experience.
I should have faced our authorities when I started, but I was just plain lucky that no onecomplained. We have reports and newsletters we all receive from our authorities, and oftenthere are sections of what I call "Who's in trouble?" Most of us read this section first to seewho was has been disciplined and why.
Often these agents made a simple or stupid mistake: they went too fast, they forgotsomething or they were a bit careless and got caught up in the moment. They are not badpeople at all. They made a mistake, which anyone can do.
Once a complaint is filed, the authorities go through each agent's contract with a finetoothcomb looking for any and all errors that might have been made. They have the powerto enforce their rules and regulations, and they often do just that. Common penalties includea fine or a license suspension for a period of time, and/or they send an agent for furthereducation.
The shaken agents have their name published in these newsletters and often can have a"permanent mark" in their file. Who wants that to happen? No one, and as I stated, it is oftensomething ridiculous we could have prevented had we just double-checked or taken a littlemore time. It is not fun at all, and it is very time-consuming preparing replies and reasons foryour defence. It is stressful and just plain awful.
This book was written to help anyone this could happen to, and you will see that some ofthe incidents that caused a reprimand were really simple mistakes, and some were caused byfailure to stay up-to-date with the requirements of our authorities and the legislation. Agentswho are truly unprofessional or unethical to the detriment of the public are dealt with in avery harsh manner, and our authorities do weed out those types of people.
The authorities have a mandate to protect the public, and that means we have to do thesame. So let's do it and do it right the first time. You will see how silly some of the mistakesare. With just a little more care writing the contract, adding in the statements or subjects orhaving more knowledge or training, there would never be a problem. Keep yourself updatedand educated, and have an active plan and checklists in place for writing any type of contract.I am going to give you just such a system.
I will review in depth the primary clauses and phrases, specifically:
• the statements that could be in most contracts
• the subjects (Famous Five)
• the property specifics.
And then I will cover such items as:
• offers and counter-offers
• removing the subjects
• changing an accepted Contract of Purchase and Sale
• turning in your documents.
I will also explain how to put this all together so you never forget anything. You must focuson these items each and every time you write an offer. You cannot afford to forget anything.You must be disciplined and follow the same format with each Contract of Purchase and Salethat you write. You must be consistent. It is critical.
First I want to give you some general information, including how I ended up in the realestate industry. I will include my first few days in the profession and what happened to mewith my first buyer and my first seller. This will just reinforce how things can go wrong andwhy, but I will then take you to an ideal order of contract writing so it never happens toyou.
I will also give you a few ideas with respect to promoting yourself, advertising and a fewother marketing suggestions.
CHAPTER 3
Starting Out
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Why did I choose a career in real estate? I was working and had been working as an executiveadministrator to the president and vice-president of a company. The vice-president had toldme for years to go into real estate because I would be so good at it. What the heck did hemean? What makes a good real estate agent?
One day he told me he was going to fire me because I was wasting my talents workingfor him, and I should go into real estate and work for myself. He didn't want to hear anotherword about it. I was devastated. Fire me, are you kidding? Well, he wasn't kidding. He toldme he would give me one year's notice, time enough to obtain my license, and then I wasgone, like it or not. What was he thinking?
He left me no choice, so off I went and took the course. I personally was forced into realestate as a profession with no idea what I was doing. I worked for these two fellows for years,and it was often six days a week and hours and hours of overtime that I didn't get paid for.
I wrote the real estate exam in a room with hundreds of other hopefuls, and I must admitI was scared to death. What if I forgot everything I learned? Although, I must be honest, inthose days, the courses didn't teach me how to sell real estate at all. I just learned "stuff." Itis very different today.
When I was studying for the exam, I took courses to help me pass and met a fantasticlady who became the best in our industry for a number of years. We both were extremelycompetitive, and I wasn't going to let her beat me on any of our assignments (we usually gotthe same marks). There was one area we thought might be on the exam, and we just couldn'tremember all the answers.
I made up some rather rude words to remember them by, and she memorized them too.When we wrote the exam, there was that question, and I looked over to see her staring atme. We both burst out laughing. The rest of the class thought we were crazy.
I passed. Now what?
Well, the vice-president fired me as soon as he heard I passed. That was it, after all myyears of dedication and service and free overtime too! I couldn't believe it. He fired me!
I was on the streets in more ways than one.
Now I had to find a brokerage to join. My classmate had already picked a company andtold me there was a desk for me too. I was to be her partner. I didn't know if I wanted to dothat.
She was so successful it was unbelievable, but I went to another company to learn onmy own. No one told me connections and knowing people was one of the biggest assets,especially when starting out. I guess this was my first really big mistake. I should have gonewith her, even if just for her connections.
She is no longer in our industry, but she was one dynamic woman. She was married to adoctor who got bored and became a lawyer, or maybe he was a lawyer and became a doctor.She was brilliant and had unbelievable connections.
One thing I did learn is that meeting people and letting everyone know what you do fora living is critical to survival in our industry. That's how you get business. Referrals and whoyou know. You are going to have to generate your own clientele when you first begin as anew agent, so we will cover a few promotional and advertising ideas shortly.
My First Day
I joined a large brokerage, and on my first day I was greeted by the managing broker.He showed me my desk and said, "Good luck, Barb." That was it. I waited, but nothing elsehappened.
My desk was sparkling clean. I could almost see my reflection. There was a phone andphone book but no pens, no paper, nothing in the drawers, nothing at all.
