Monday, August 11, 2008

Keller Williams Launches a Commercial Division!



Commercial Division Comes to Keller Williams Realty!

We are pleased to announce that 2008 will mark the launch of the Keller Williams Realty Commercial Division!

Our goal is to make Keller Williams the commercial real estate platform of choice by providing our commercial associates the technology, marketing tools, and resources to succeed in their commercial businesses. We want to create synergy and referrals between the residential and commercial sides of Keller Williams Realty, increasing the income and production potential of all our agents. And we look forward to adding to our associates' profit sharing through increased profitability of our Market Centers.

We are also honored to announce that Buddy Norman, a true leader in commercial real estate, has joined the Keller Williams family to spearhead this new venture.

Buddy has more than 15 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry - including leadership within international commercial firms, such as Cushman & Wakefield and The Staubach Company. He has built new divisions and trained commercial brokers all over the U.S. - including Dallas, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and San Diego. A consistent top producer, Buddy has averaged more than 400,000 square feet per year of commercial leasing and sales transactions over the last 10 years.

Buddy will serve as the President of Keller Williams' Commercial Division, and will be working closely with a Commercial Advisory Council (CAC) of top commercial brokers within our company that will guide the launch and implementation of this new division.

Our plan is to launch Keller Williams Commercial this fall. And as an agent-centric company, we want to ensure that we build this division for our agents and by our agents. We ask that you take a few moments to fill out the short survey below. If you are a commercial agent or have interest in commercial real estate, please share your input on how we can build this new venture to be a true win-win for our offices and our associates:

We know that with the leadership of Buddy, our Commercial Advisory Council, and your input, we can truly build a Commercial Division that will create the commercial real estate platform of choice! If you have any questions or would like to find out more about the KW Commercial Division, please contact us at commercial@kw.com.

For more information, call Amber Boyd at 972-772-7000.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Close the Museum, Patch the Cracks


The sellers on HGTV’s “Secrets That Sell” rarely have a clue about why their house hasn’t sold. To the rescue of these desperate sellers comes the mother-daughter team of Donna and Shannon Freeman.

In a recent episode, the Barbozas are told to “close up the museum”—to get rid of the painting of the family patriarch over the fireplace and hang a flat-screen TV in the space instead. They also are instructed to pack up their collections, including the cute chickens and roosters in the kitchen. Fortunately, they aren’t the family pets, simply a decorating theme that had overtaken the cooking area.

In addition to getting rid of their bold colors and figurines, the Barbozas are told that they need to patch the cracks in the ceilings. And with the addition of the flat-screen TV over the living room mantel, they solve the problem of the dated television set nesting in the built-in living room cabinet (so ’80s). This move also frees up space for storage.

One tip I had never heard of before was to make sure each bathroom has a full roll of toilet paper. This is a subtle and inexpensive detail when adding finishing touches.

As with so many reality shows, the pregnant pauses here that precede the “reality” moment with the sellers are just irritating. But a larger question in my mind remains: How active were the prior agents these people hired to sell their house? It’s also possible the owners had been trying to sell the property without representation. Except for being told the number of days the property had been on the market, we never quite know as viewers what transpired before Donna and Shannon were invited over for a friendly chat.

Besides giving the owners specific advice, Donna and Shannon seem to be delivering an unspoken but useful message to our industry: A service-oriented practitioner has a clear understanding of the inventory at that moment, grasps the nature of the buyer pool for that product, and works with sellers to show them what it will take to get the property ready for market on time and on budget. This same practitioner will also have the confidence to decline an opportunity that would otherwise only lead to frustration and unmet expectations for all involved. Now, that’s the reality that leads to successful sales.

Contributed by Marilyn Schumacher, e-PRO, SRE, Harbor Bay Realty, Alameda, Calif.