Humboldt County Real Estate Blog

For the past few weeks I have been assisting a bank with getting a foreclosure in Arcata ready to go on the

market. I had served notices to tenants to vacate because of the foreclosure and re-keyed all the locks after their

departure. With it now vacant it became the target for a scam.

For several days an individual was breaking in and trying to secure the house for himself. He changed the

deadbolt on the front door so I couldn't enter. He screwed all the doors shut so I couldn't get in and went out a

window. Each time he did this, I was able to undo what he had done. I was thinking that someone was pulling a

prank on me. I did alert the police and the neighbors and they knew to watch for suspicious activity.

On Saturday evening around 6:00 pm, Feb 23rd, I received a call from the neighbors that someone was moving

into the house. They knew that the previous tenants had been evicted because of the foreclosure and no one

should be moving back in. I immediately went to the house and found no one there but did see belongings in the

house. The front door knob and deadbolt that I had installed had been changed to a different set and I could not

get in the front door. I also found a laminated "legal" notice taped to the inside of the front window and the back

sliding door. The notice purported to be a Humboldt County Tax Collector/US Treasury/IRS home seizure for

supposed criminal activity.

I immediately called the police to report a trespassing because I quickly determined that the "notice" was a

fake. When the police officer arrived, he wasn't willing to arrest anyone because he was not convinced that a

crime had been committed. He saw furniture in the house and unless I could demonstrate that I was actually in

possession of the house, the "tenant" had a right to the house. It would not be criminal case because of a trespass

but a civil case because of the tenant occupancy. He had no jurisdiction in a civil case. If it were a civil case, I

would have to go through the courts for an eviction.

I explained to the officer that the home was a foreclosure and I was preparing it for sale. He wanted to see a

foreclosure deed. (I was sent one by a very kind friend who secured a copy for me late on a Saturday night) I

pointed out to him that the notice was a fake because

1. it was posted on the inside of the house (legal notices are posted to the outside, on the door)

2. posted on a Saturday, (not during normal business hours)

3. seizures require due process

4. locks were changed immediately. (locks are not changed and people allowed to move with a posting,

(due process requires time)

5. the document was faxed to the local Kinko's and had no return fax number (any faxed document

has to have a return fax number, especially from a governmental agency)

6. the document was signed by the perpetrator (a guy named Jeffrey Lee Abel) rather than an official

from the seizing agency

7. there was no specific agency named, (just a nebulas grouping of agencies)

8. and not all the locks were changed over. (I gained entrance through a side door, (there are other

reasons, also)).

Fortunately, for me the officer was a former real estate agent and he sided with me. I had gotten the license

number of the people who were moving their belongings in and when the police office found them they were told

to call me and get their belongings out of the house immediately. They did, but it took a few days and only after I

changed the front locks back to my set of keys so they could not get back in. I now have possession again and

monitor it regularly.

The young couple that was moving in had made contact with the scammer and were told they could rent a

house in Arcata. He had been planning it for several days and had been setting it up. Sometime on late Friday

night, he picked the locks and changed out the hardware. (I had been thwarting his previous attempts to gain

possession). He met the unsuspecting couple on Saturday, collected $950 in rent and $1500 in deposit in a

money order, and gave them the keys. They were an innocent party but they had been scammed and he can't be

found.

He may not entertain doing this to a vacant listing, figuring that it is being watched but if any of your listings

are vacant, you might look for signs that someone is trying to take over the possession of the home. There is a

scammer in our midst!

personal note: Be very very careful! If these people knew what they were doing, California Law unfortunatley could have allowed them to stay in the house and it would have taken a court ordered eviction to get them out!

Wait! Hold on....did you hear that?  Was that the phone? Holy ring ring batman!

It seems to me since last week, many of us are starting to get the most awesome phone calls of new clients wanting to get pre-qualified to buy a house and sellers calling to get their house listed!

I had to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming!

 Where did these people come from? How did they hear about me? It's really simple. It's something I have been telling people to do for a long time since the up swing. Are you ready? Here it is....

Call your past clients!!

wow! What a concept! NAR did a stucy not too long ago that said 76% of the people who have used a Realtor, don't even remember their names! they haven't heard or spoken to them since they closed on the house!

I know this isn't the secret you were hoping for. It is so simple, why don't more people do it? I believe most Realtors who have been in the business for only the last few years have never learned to follow up.

It's never too late. Start calling them now! Starting from the first person you sold a house to on down to the most recent. I would even start calling the people you didn't represent who purchased one of your listings. It is perfectly legal and there is a very high chance their Realtor hasn't heard from them either. i should clarify, check witn your local board to see what they say about it.

If you don't want to talk to them, put together a newsletter and send it EVERY month. i noticed since I started sending out my newsletters, my phone started ringing again! Either way, it's your call!

How do you know if you are signed up with too many sites? How in the world can you possibly remember the passwords to all of them? Some sites require "characters or symbols' in addition to minimum of 6-12 chharacters. Kind of overwhelming isn't it?

If you're looking for an answer, I am so very sorry, I don't have one,.

But, the question does remain,"how many is too many?"\

Ever since the new buzz wird has been uttered (Web 2.0) a couple fo years ago, I have been inundated with free offers to sign up and use their service to be ahead of the marketing game. I get excited when I receive a legitimate lead, buyer and seller, and talk about it to all of my co-workers, and then "poof" no more leads.

I then sign up for one of those pay as you go lead generating sites. I pay 39.95 for ,yer leads and then 69.95 for seller leads. I call the clients withing 10 minutes of them entering their information and they get mad at me because they feel the site is deceptive and is phishing for their information. I then get yelled at because they think I am the culprit!

I am now signed up for flyers, free leads (but pay a referral fee), facebook, youtube, google video,Realtor.co, (has always been a waste of time for me), and about 11 other sites.

Is it too much and am I spinning my wheels trying to keep up or should they be paying off for me soon?

The Wackiest Laws On The Books!

Did you know that in New Hampshire it is illegal to tap your feet, nod your head, or keep time to the music in a tavern, restaurant, or café?  Or that state law in Colorado allows people to rip the tags off pillows and mattresses, despite dire warnings not to do so. 

And in Alaska, while it's legal to shoot bears, waking a sleeping bear for the purposes of taking a photograph is prohibited. 

The dumb laws web site, found at www.dumblaws.com offers an entertaining selection of silly laws on the books in the U.S. and foreign countries.  Compiled by Andy Powell and Jeff Koon, the site offers a sidesplitting look at laws that are outdated...or simply incredibly stupid. Other examples include...

In Fairbanks, Alaska, it is considered an offense to feed alcoholic beverages to a moose.  Sterling, Colorado has a law on the books that states that cats may not run loose at night without being fit with a taillight. 

Roy Rogers used to say," Buy land, because they're not making any more of it!" I have a client who has been looking for 600-1000 acres to raise cattle and is selling his property on the east coast. he would love to have an area where it doesn't get too hot in the summer, about 80 degrees or less and where it doesn't snow 2 months out of the year.

We have that kind of weather here in Humboldt County, but not enough land for sale. Does anyone know of a ranch or even some vacant land?

Ok, I know someon out there is so in tune with Web 2.0 that they have to have the latest innovation on their website. What I'm talking about is the video of themselves on the opening page of theri website. Fess up! Who has one of these?

I have been racking my brain trying to find out how to do this. I've seen it done once and I can never find that website.

What it shows is the Realtor "walking onto the screen" of their site and guiding the viewer to any number of links. It lasts between 30-45 seconds but it is a very powerful and cool thing.

Could someone please tell me how to do this?

I used to hear the saying, "you have to list to last" for many years. I started to find a way to get more listings and realized, " holy crap! I wrote a blog not too long ago on how to get a FSBO to work with you!"

What a dingbat! I should practice what I preach! I reached for the phone, and froze.My palms started to sweat. My heart started to race...what am I going to say? what happens if they hang up on me? what if they ask me if I have a buyer? what if...? what if...? what if...?

I shook my head, stood up and did a "power move". I found that if I stood up while on the phone, my level of energy rose quite a bit and it made it easier to put a smile on my face while speakng to the client( I learned that from Tony Robbins ),

I dialed the first number I saw in the classifieds.

RING RING

Client: Hello?

Me: may I speak to Carla? ( I saw her name in the ad )

Client: You're speaking to her

Me: my name is John Ford of Champion Real Estate and I noticed your ad in the newspaper, have you sold it yet?

Client: No, unfortunately, I still haven't sold it. But I do plan on resubmitting the ad again. Why do you ask? Do you have a buyer for me?

Me: Well, I'm not too sure yet. Many times when i am working with a well qualified buyer, they don't like what's listed on the active market, I try to see what else is out there that may be of interest to them. When would it be possible to preview your property to see if it may qualify with my client? Does today at 4pm work for you or tomorrow at 1pm?

Client: I'm headed up to the property today. Would it be ok to meet me at 3?

Me: uumm not sure.....let me see....I may have to re-arrange a couple of things and I really would like to see your property, let's go ahead and schedule it and if anything changes, I will call you. What is your cell phone number?

Client:xxx-xxx-xxxx Thank you very much for calling, see you then!

I met Carla that same day and not once did I tell her I have a buyer or try and get the listing on that appointment. This is my second week in keeping in contact with her just by droppiong little hints as to the best way to seel is to get her property on the "active market." Our inventory is running low and she could really benefit from the added exposure.

My goal is to schedule as many FSBO appointments as possible and get a good relationship going. I have found that a large majority of FSBO's convert to listings within the first 2 weeks! One of these days I may put on a webinar on how to work with FSBO's and hand out templatesfor you to try yourself!

ok some of you may be wondering, what else is there that could really make us stand out over the crowds? You may already have it or you still don't know what to do with it. It's the webcam! I finally took the plunge and started using my webcam to reply to email messages and give video updates to my clients. I have also successfully use it to get myself a FSBO!

The best program I have found is called CoVideo Systems. You can set up a link on your website where a client could click on it and it will open up your camera and they can text you while you can talk to them live!

So far, I have gone over CMA's, Did a live powerpoint presentation and the next thing I am going to do is a live broadcast of a home seller seminar!

All this for less than $50.00 per month! One day i hope to be able to do a Video blog here on the Rain. ow wouldn't that be cool?

I was getting ready to start a major project with a commercial building recently and was going to hire an attorney friend of  mine to help me get the job done and to make sure I don't miss any details of the transaction. I knew I was going to have to pay him at least a few thousand dollars.

He offered to discount his rates because we have been friends for a long time. Normally I would take him up on his offer. But a few questions came to mind. Would that mean I would get mediocre service? If someone came in and he could earn twice what I am paying him, would I become second fiddle? If he discounted his service, which service would he exclude in order to save himself some money?

My attorney is actually one of the best in the county and is sometimes hard to hire because he is so busy.

Let's look at another example, let's say you have to file a lawsuit. You visit two attorneys and both feel you could win. One attorney says he charges $300.00 per hour. The other attorney says he will charge you nothing for his time and expenses until you win or settle the lawsuit. Which one would you hire?

The same goes for our services. Our clients don't pay us anything until the property sells. We put in hours and hours to make sure we position our clients' property on the market as best as we could.

If after your listing presentation your client asks you to discount your commission, you didn't do a good enough job in showing your worth as a local professional and you look like every other Realtor out there.

You have to have a presentation that is so compelling and so true, the commission doesn't even come up. After they sign, you had better be able to back up your words. In the 7 years of selling, I have never lost a listing to a discount broker.

ok, ok already! I am now sold on the idea of setting up an RSS feed and adding to my site. I have no idea how to start and no idea how to get people to subscribe to it.

Does anyone out there know how to do this stuff? I am getting ready to jump start my website with new content from www.LMDesigning.com and I want to make sure I am able to show my clients I am up to date on this web 2.0 stuff. can anyone help me?