Prudential Survey Shows Optimism Among Americans

July 26, 2011 1 Comment

Americans Believe in Real Estate

The majority of America’s potential homebuyers and sellers — 68 percent — believe that the real estate market and property values will recover in the next year or two, according to a new survey by Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services, a Prudential Financial, Inc. company.  This exceeds the 47 percent of Americans who expected house prices would rise in a similar survey conducted in April 2010, underscoring a more bullish outlook for the real estate market today.  In addition, 86 percent of Americans believe real estate is a good investment despite the market volatility of the past few years.

The national survey reveals that six in 10 respondents are more interested in buying real estate (58%) and are optimistic about buying given the momentum of the economic recovery (59%).  It also shows that although the price of many Americans’ homes declined during the recession, 89 percent recognize they can also buy a new house at a lower price.

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What’s Up with Mortgage Points?

July 5, 2011 Leave a comment

Image via Wikipedia

If William Shakespeare financed a home today he’d probably ask the question regarding mortgage points: “To pay or not to pay? That is the question.” Homebuyers direct the same question to their real estate agents. Here are some perspectives:

In its simplest definition, a point is an additional loan fee that is paid to the lender in exchange for a lower interest rate. It’s called “buying down,” and it allows you to reduce your rate for the life of the loan.

Let’s say you secured a mortgage loan for $150,000 without points, at 4.6% on a 30-year mortgage, your principal and interst payment would be $768.97 a month. If you paid two points ($3,000), the interest rate in this example may go down to 4.1% and the monthly payment would decrease to $724.80, a savings of $44.17 a month.

In this scenario, it would take you about eight years to recoup the money you paid up front, so if you are planning on staying in your home a while, this will save you money in the long-run.

Home buyers must answer some key questions to determine if paying points is a wise decision. Specifically: Read more of this post

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Prudential’s ‘Bring Your Challenges’ Ad Campaign Debuts

May 24, 2011 Leave a comment

Bring Your Challenges!  That’s the message in Prudential’s new U.S. advertising campaign launched today.  The campaign invites individuals, financial professionals and institutions to bring their biggest financial challenges to Prudential and highlights our company’s 135-year history of meeting those challenges for Americans.

The campaign debuts with ads in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, The Star-Ledger, Barron’s and the Financial Times, and will include television, outdoor advertising, digital, business, general interest and trade media.

The advertising highlights some of the tough challenges our company is already working to address, including helping Americans plan for lifetime income security, manage risk in pension plans and investments, deliver cost effective benefits to employees, secure adequate insurance coverage and make sense of the real estate market. 

The ad campaign outlines Prudential’s goal to help solve the financial challenges that we all face—not in the short term, but for the long-term benefit of our clients and our communities.  In fact, Prudential business leaders and industry thought leaders discuss those pressing financial issues we all face today in short videos featured on a new website our company created for the campaign.

“This is a significant new campaign designed to demonstrate the important leadership role Prudential plays in helping people and organizations tackle their biggest financial challenges,” says Colin McConnell, head of Prudential Advertising, the company’s in-house advertising agency. “‘Bring Your Challenges’ will build on the strength of Prudential’s brand and our leadership position in our core businesses. And it will showcase the dynamic company we are today.

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Are You Blending In or Standing Out?

May 5, 2011 Leave a comment

Webster’s Dictionary defines the word ‘Blend’ by saying ‘to mix smoothly and inseparably together so as to have no perceptible separation’.  This may work well in cooking recipes and mixing cream into your coffee, but when it comes to your listing and sales presentations, the last thing in the world you want to do is blend in.

The ultimate goal of any sales presentation should be to convince the customer to take action.  But are you convincing them to take action with you? When you plop your presentation materials down on a potential seller’s dining room table, what distinguishes you from the last REALTOR® that was sitting in that very same chair just hours before?

Let’s look at the typical real estate sales presentation.  They start out with the ten programs that will be utilized to get the property sold; they espouse the virtues of  their company’s website and how much traffic it captures; they tell them what their home is worth based upon a Competitive Market Analysis; and they’ll finish up with a generous sprinkling of the number of open houses that will be conducted to further expose the property to the market.   While these components of your presentation are important, they are just the price of admission to get you to the table.  It’s what you do NOW that will spell the difference between success and failure.

 If a seller is talking to three REALTORS® and they all pretty much are saying they and their company are the greatest thing since sliced bread, why would the seller not focus on which agent will charge them the cheapest commission or promise them the greatest sales price?  You need to stand out!  Here are three ways you can separate yourself from the competition:

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Spring Advertising Campaign Set to Kick-Off

March 6, 2011 Leave a comment

Real people with a real message!  That’s the theme of these three television commercials that are starting to run on WGAL, Fox 43, WHP 21, Comcast and Viamedia.  They will run through the Spring buying season and end during the latter part of May.

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Is the Glass Half-Empty or Half-Full?

February 11, 2011 Leave a comment

Many real estate agents over the past two years have found it very difficult to see the silver lining through all the dark clouds swirling around our industry.  Some of those dark clouds have signaled  a need for change in the way we do business – and we have changed.  But many of those dark clouds were nothing more than mirages that caused some in our industry to go on a self-imposed sabbatical.  They saw the glass  as half-empty and chose to ignore the fifty percent that was full.

Hey!  If you have a glass that is 50% full – work with it!  Start trying to figure out how you can fill the balance of the glass.  Here are some ways that real estate agents can focus on pouring more liquid into the cylinder over the next couple of months:

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Harrisburg, PA and Business; A Great Match

January 19, 2011 Leave a comment

The Wall Street Journal’s online business site, MarketWatch, recently named the ten best cities in the United States to do business in.  Drumroll please – - – coming in at number nine – - – Harrisburg, PA!  MarketWatch cited our city’s ”high personal income levels and strong business attraction” as two of the reasons it made the list.  Geographically, it has the advantage of being located between the major metropolitan cities of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC and New York.  Penn State, one of the top research universities in the country is also located within an easy drive.  In addition, the regions boasts a top notch medical facility in Penn State’s Hershey Medical Center.  You can see the entire list by clicking here.

If you’re thinking of locating your business in Harrisburg, the Capital Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC) is a great resource.  Its mission is to be a catalyst for policy change for job creation and for business growth in Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry Counties that enhances the quality of life in our region.

Congratulations Harrisburg!

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Four Strategies to Put You on the Right Path for 2011

January 12, 2011 Leave a comment

Are you ready for 2011?

Are you looking forward to 2011 with grand anticipation or tempered trepidation?  Here are a couple of thoughts and ideas to get you started on the right foot and make sure that it is your best year ever!

You wouldn’t know it from all the pundits who bombard us daily with doom and gloom but lots of homes are trading hands in the real estate industry.  When the numbers are tallied for 2010, approximately 4.7 million homes will have been SOLD in this country.  If we look back at historical data from the National Association of REALTORS® prior to the bubble (i.e. 2003-2008), this number was considered about ‘normal’.    To further illustrate my point, the stock market experienced year-over-year gains and the holiday shopping season produced a healthy increase of 15% from last year.

The bottom line – - – products and services of all kinds are moving!

In order to be a ‘mover and shaker’ in the upcoming year, a lot will hinge on your mindset and what you do NOW to prepare to be successful.  Don’t be afraid to shed old sales methods and outdated marketing approaches in favor of new skills and tools.  Here are some strategies to get your creative juices flowing:

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