I love being a mentor to new agents starting their career; I get so much from this experience. Today I reviewed a new agents first offer. I remember how exciting, nerve racking and overwhelming this experience was. I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted to know what everything meant and feared my client asking questions and not knowing answers. We are taught how to write contracts and it is explained to us in great detail; however until you are writing a real offer with the intent that it be accepted, the desire to comfort and make sure your client is satisfied and confidence you are doing the best job you can to communicate exactly what your client wants communicated. You want to be able to give good solid advise instilling confidence and trust to your buyer that you are representing them well.
As I reviewed the agents offer I was impressed in how well it was written and proud of our training program. I remembered the compliments I received as I sent my first offer in for review. I also remembered that all though it was well written I did not understand every part of it or why it was written with particular wording or how certain clauses and contingency were designed to protect the different parties to the contract. So I took a moment to call the new agent and say "wow what a great job, you did a wonderful job", and then address her questions all great questions that give me the confidence that she has the desire to understand and do the best job possible. I was assured that it was important to her that her client was being well represented and that it was important to her that she could assure them of this. Even though through our extensive and detailed training I did not assume it all made sense to her on this level. now that she had a person and a property to relate to and an expected outcome this was real and not just an example or wording. As we went through it things also start clicking for me things i may not have understood completely until trying to explain and make sense of it for someone else. This is how mentoring is SO valuable to me. It helps become a better agent. The best way to learn is through experience and I get to have the experience of all my own transactions as well as the agents I mentor this experience is priceless. I feel I already have more experience then an average agent doing the average amount of business because I am getting my hands on sometimes up to 4 times the transaction in one month. I am searching for more answers to more questions, running into more hurdles and helping solve more problems then I would if I were simply focused on my own transactions. I am working with agents that although they are new to real estate they all have their own backgrounds and wisdom to offer me and continue to encourage me to think outside the box. I often don't know the answer until they help me work out by really communicating what the end result needs to be. Being a mentor is the thing that keeps me growing and learning and always working towards becoming a better agent.
When we were done reviewing the offer and satisfied with moving forward to meet with the buyers for signatures and confident that we could explain the process and answer questions or know when to say "I don't know that answer but I can find out and get back to you" I was then excited to offer some advise on communication that I have learned through experience. Such as... after you get the buyers signatures put your self in their shoes. they are excited and eager for a response. It may be very important to them to know what to expect for the next few days. Let the buyer know how the process goes from here, when you will submit the offer, when it may be presented and when you expect to hear back. when submitting the offer ask the selling agent for the same communication, example Hi selling agent here is an offer on your property located at... please confirm when you have received the offer and when you hope to present offer to seller so I can let the buyers know what to expect. why this is important, making an offer is a very big and scary decision. Waiting for that phone call saying your offer has been accepted, rejected or countered is a very anxious time. if you are able to help your buyer understand the process and give them a good expectation of timeline this can eliminate much of there anxiety and all the tricks our brain does when we are waiting for news. your buyer may think 3 days is a long time and will start assuming and mentally preparing for the worse case. But if they realize that the seller may not even be able to see the offer for 24 hours and or need to discuss it with someone else this can ease the anxiety as well as the anxiety of the new agent. Communication is one of the best tools a real estate agent can have and can truly help you stand out from all other agents.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Friday, October 17, 2014
The Progression of Mentor ship
I am a mentor in my office for new agents, This has been one of the most rewarding things in my career. obviously I started off with a mentor of my own, well really quite a few. As my career took off and things started clicking for me I couldn't help but to want to pay it forward and be that for someone else. Not just for anyone but for someone who wanted as badly as I did to learn and grow, to succeed and to do it right. I was blessed with an amazing men-tee who came in with the same sparkle in her eyes. She was ready to rock her new career and just get to work. Between her mad desire and passion to succeed, all the tools and foundation our company would provide her with and my excitement and desire to pay it forward there was no way we could fail.
I am proud to say that this girl is a rock star and has reached her first goal of 5 escrows in 8 months and is graduating from the mentor program. Why has she rocked it? because she believed in herself, she wanted it and she worked very hard for it. she used every resource she could get her hands on. I was not her only mentor she pulled from everyone and anyone she could, Her Broker, her mentor, every agent in our office, every agent she got into contract with and every agent she encountered along the way. I have learned as much from her or more then I could have ever offered her. I don't mentor selflessly to give I mentor because I get so much from it. if things did not make sense to me the first go around I often make sense of it when trying to teach it. At times she would choose a different path then me and prove to me that there was another way and it may work better. I am so proud of this girl and all that she has accomplished and I am honored to be a small part of her beginning. I feel now like we are co workers and we are a team. She will continue to come to me for advice and I will come to her for advice as well. Nothing will change I am still here as her mentor and friend. But we both get to be so proud that through a lot of time, hard work, and ups and downs The first of many goals has been met. Set a goal, reach that goal and that is the formula to success! so congratulations for reaching Success Lady you are Awesome and inspiring! I can not wait to see your next goal and watch it to happen too! Have so much fun in Hawaii with your family you deserve it!!!!!!
With that said you have a final assignment =)
write your goal for the next year, quarter and month.
a please take a minute write up your "why" why are you doing this, why real estate.
send me your why and your goal for 2 reasons accountability and declaration!
I am proud to say that this girl is a rock star and has reached her first goal of 5 escrows in 8 months and is graduating from the mentor program. Why has she rocked it? because she believed in herself, she wanted it and she worked very hard for it. she used every resource she could get her hands on. I was not her only mentor she pulled from everyone and anyone she could, Her Broker, her mentor, every agent in our office, every agent she got into contract with and every agent she encountered along the way. I have learned as much from her or more then I could have ever offered her. I don't mentor selflessly to give I mentor because I get so much from it. if things did not make sense to me the first go around I often make sense of it when trying to teach it. At times she would choose a different path then me and prove to me that there was another way and it may work better. I am so proud of this girl and all that she has accomplished and I am honored to be a small part of her beginning. I feel now like we are co workers and we are a team. She will continue to come to me for advice and I will come to her for advice as well. Nothing will change I am still here as her mentor and friend. But we both get to be so proud that through a lot of time, hard work, and ups and downs The first of many goals has been met. Set a goal, reach that goal and that is the formula to success! so congratulations for reaching Success Lady you are Awesome and inspiring! I can not wait to see your next goal and watch it to happen too! Have so much fun in Hawaii with your family you deserve it!!!!!!
With that said you have a final assignment =)
write your goal for the next year, quarter and month.
a please take a minute write up your "why" why are you doing this, why real estate.
send me your why and your goal for 2 reasons accountability and declaration!
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
I am an Open book.... I wonder what my cover looks like?
So I have had this mad desire to start writing and journal lately. It is so therapeutic to me and sometimes the only way I can really express myself with out sounding like I love the sound of my own voice. I talk ALOT and I rarely really feel understood. So I write because then I can see, read and hear my own words and then I realize why I rarely feel understood. Because I am all over the place and my words are usually me working out my own thoughts and can be quite confusing to others. AKA (I come off crazy)
Who am I?
I am Tomi, I am passionate, driven, motivated, complicated, emotional, and I am an open book. I am pretty open about everything I do and think whether it is good or bad. Is this a good thing? I don't know really most people don't want or need to know everything. However I feel that if I did it, I feel it or I think, its who I am and I should not be ashamed. If I am ashamed or don't want someone to know about it chances are it was not something I should be doing in which case its more of a confession or admission of guilt. If you have ever had a conversation with me you know what I am talking about. I do not have a filter and I do not hide anything. If I am hiding something it means I am truly not happy with my decision. When I was younger I gambled a lot and I tried to hide it! It was not a healthy habit and I was ashamed so I changed it. (not easy) I still don't talk about it much.
When I get quite or shut down or feel the desire to shut down my face book page it means I am probably not in a good place and I am not proud of my thoughts, It also means I do not want to infect anyone else with my negative energy or poison. (usually PMS induced) or I am burned out and crashing from pushing myself to hard or loosing balance. I call it part of "my process" not saying its a good or a bad process just seems to be my process or a pattern my life follows.
I am generally very happy, high energy, and it takes a lot to get me down. But as my life gets busier and more demanding it sometimes takes less. I have a very full and blessed life with an amazing husband of 19 years 3 beautiful boys. My husband and my boys all have huge compassionate hearts. I know this because i know their hearts I feel their love and compassion and the unconditional love and connection all the way down to my core. We smile, we laugh, we cry, we yell, we fight and we make up. when we are tired and hungry we are mean and inpatient. When we are sick we whine and we pout. when we are healthy, fed and rested we smile, laugh, and enjoy other. Guess what we are REAL and we are just like everyone else. probably even you.
I try very hard to be aware of these patterns and to avoid tired, hungry and sick but like I said this is real life and we are real people so it happens. letting go is key and forgiving and forgetting is also important to maintain balance. This is my struggle sometimes.
Tomi
Living a passionate life
When you live a life of passion driven by love and the desire to help others you work harder then ever but rarely feel like its work. They say when you start doing the thing you love and are meant to do you never work another day!
Now that is not true you just see it differently it doesn't feel like you working when you have fun and enjoy what you are doing. But in all actuality you are working harder then you ever have before because you want to. This doesn't mean your happy all the time and that everything comes easy, it simply means that as hurdles get in your way you don't look at them and turn around. You go full force and attempt to jump higher and higher to get past them. This also doesn't mean you clear them every time. Some times you crash down face first, sometimes you just barely miss it. , again you don't turn around and say I cant do it, you try again, and again, you try differently, you may walk around one and clear the next one. Why would you walk around one isn't that cheating? NO it means your OK with not being perfect and you are not letting anything stop you. if a hurdle is in your way jumping over it is NOT the only option. You can go around it, you can crawl under it, you can go around it the other way, You can pick it up and move it out of the way.
One the things that often stops us from succeeding is our own fear of failure successful people are not experts in success they are usually experts in failing; how to fail, how to embrace failure or fail forward. Failure does NOT need to be a road block it is a hurdle or a learning experience.
Another one of our biggest obstacles can be our own personal negative self talk, or thoughts. This has been one of my biggest Hurdles. thoughts such as "I can not, I am not capable, I don't deserve it, Its not what so and so wants for me, along with every excuse in the book. I am not smart enough, there is not enough time, I can not afford it, I have to much on my plate, it will inconvenience someone else. The great news is these thoughts and word have a antidote. I CAN! I WILL! I AM WORTH IT, I DESERVE IT! ITS WHAT I WANT FOR ME AND MY FAMILY! I AM SMART ENOUGH! I CAN MAKE TIME FOR IT! IT IS A PRIORITY!
what if I cant do it? this can be replaced with WHAT IF I CAN DO IT! what if it turns out its not what I want? WHAT IF IT TURNS OUT ITS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED! what if I it doesn't make me happy? WHAT IF IT DOES!!!!
So much of what we accomplish in life depends on our own personal thoughts and beliefs. Believe in your self! work hard! love what you do! and be smart about!
Try to remember to enjoy what you have when you have it, you may not have it all but you probably have more then you need. "what you focus on expands" it becomes reality so chose wisely what you focus on, make it something positive and it will become a positive life.
Tomacina Hochgurtel
10/15/2014
Now that is not true you just see it differently it doesn't feel like you working when you have fun and enjoy what you are doing. But in all actuality you are working harder then you ever have before because you want to. This doesn't mean your happy all the time and that everything comes easy, it simply means that as hurdles get in your way you don't look at them and turn around. You go full force and attempt to jump higher and higher to get past them. This also doesn't mean you clear them every time. Some times you crash down face first, sometimes you just barely miss it. , again you don't turn around and say I cant do it, you try again, and again, you try differently, you may walk around one and clear the next one. Why would you walk around one isn't that cheating? NO it means your OK with not being perfect and you are not letting anything stop you. if a hurdle is in your way jumping over it is NOT the only option. You can go around it, you can crawl under it, you can go around it the other way, You can pick it up and move it out of the way.
One the things that often stops us from succeeding is our own fear of failure successful people are not experts in success they are usually experts in failing; how to fail, how to embrace failure or fail forward. Failure does NOT need to be a road block it is a hurdle or a learning experience.
Another one of our biggest obstacles can be our own personal negative self talk, or thoughts. This has been one of my biggest Hurdles. thoughts such as "I can not, I am not capable, I don't deserve it, Its not what so and so wants for me, along with every excuse in the book. I am not smart enough, there is not enough time, I can not afford it, I have to much on my plate, it will inconvenience someone else. The great news is these thoughts and word have a antidote. I CAN! I WILL! I AM WORTH IT, I DESERVE IT! ITS WHAT I WANT FOR ME AND MY FAMILY! I AM SMART ENOUGH! I CAN MAKE TIME FOR IT! IT IS A PRIORITY!
what if I cant do it? this can be replaced with WHAT IF I CAN DO IT! what if it turns out its not what I want? WHAT IF IT TURNS OUT ITS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED! what if I it doesn't make me happy? WHAT IF IT DOES!!!!
So much of what we accomplish in life depends on our own personal thoughts and beliefs. Believe in your self! work hard! love what you do! and be smart about!
Try to remember to enjoy what you have when you have it, you may not have it all but you probably have more then you need. "what you focus on expands" it becomes reality so chose wisely what you focus on, make it something positive and it will become a positive life.
Tomacina Hochgurtel
10/15/2014
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