Fear: Your biggest competitor

In some situations, it may seem difficult to "ask for the sale."  An impatient buyer may shut down every rebuttal to an overcome objection.  Non- motivated buyers may stonewall an opportunity to close.  While some buyers can cause agents to be discouraged, the truth is that they are creating nothing more than a fear for you to ask them to sign the contract.  Just because a showing or a meeting is going well according to your point of view, it doesn't necessarily mean that the other party feels the same.

Overall, an agent's perception of how the client feels can dictate their ability to close the sale.  If this is the case, there are some simple solutions to help sales associates get past those discouraging moments.  For those of you who occasionally struggle with overcoming your fears, here are some mental tricks to help overcome your biggest competitor; you.


Geoffrey James writes the "Sales Source" column on Inc.com, the world's most-visited sales-oriented blog.  Below is his column from July 30th, 2012.

4 Mental Tricks to Conquer Fear

You can't be successful if you're ruled by fear. Here's how I reprogrammed my brain to be more courageous.

Fear is the enemy of success. Large rewards only result from taking comparably large risks. If you're ruled by fear, you'll never take enough risks and never achieve success you deserve.

If I've learned anything in this life, it's that the actions that scared me the most at the time--leaving a cushy corporate job to freelance, asking my beautiful wife for a first date, and adopting our two kids--have also paid off the most.

That doesn't mean these moves aren't hard at the time, but I've managed to retrain my brain to get past the momentary fear and push toward the payoff. Here are four ideas that I've made an integral part of my thinking:

1. Value Courage Over Security

Repeated surveys have shown that most people value "security" over just about everything else in their lives. People will put up with jobs that they hate, marriages that make them miserable, and habits that are killing them (think "comfort food") simply to feel more secure.

To conquer fear, you must consciously dethrone "security" as the thing that you value most in your life and replace it with the active virtue of "courage." You must decide, once and for all, that it's more important for you to have the courage to do what you must to succeed, rather than to cling to the things that make you feel safe.

2. Differentiate Between Fear & Prudence
Most fears are irrational and unreasonable. For example, you might be afraid to make an important call because if the call doesn't go well, you'll have to face the fact that you "failed."  Or you might be afraid to confront a co-worker who acts like a bully, or to start your own business because you're not certain you've got what it takes.
It's these irrational fears that hold you back and keep you from being more successful.
That said, there are other kinds of fear that are actually just simple prudence. For example, you might be afraid to drive aggressively because you might cause an accident. Or you might be afraid to be arrested if you sell a product that kills people.
Prudence is a good thing. Just make sure you aren't pretending to be prudent--when you're just trying to avoid taking reasonable business risks, for instance, or putting yourself on the line to do what's necessary.
3. Treat Fear as a Call to Action

If what you fear is outside of your control (like an economic downturn), write down a specific plan of the exact steps that you'll take in order to adapt, if and when it happens. Once you've completed that task, put the plan aside and have the courage to forget about it. You've done what you can; it's time to move on.
But if what you fear is inside your control--some action that you're afraid to take, that is--take a few moments to prepare yourself, then do the thing that's scaring you.
I mean now. Not tomorrow; not next week. Right now,before you read the rest of this post. Call that person. Write that email. Create a business plan. Do it now!
4. Reframe Fear Into Excitement
Finally, tune in to the aspect of fear that's really fun. Think about the last time you rode a roller coaster: You probably felt plenty of fear, but you were also having a great time.
Let's face it, a life without fear--and without the courage to overcome fear--would be pretty bland and insipid.
A personal note: I want to add that there was a time in my life when "security" was so important to me that I was willing to tolerate being truly miserable. I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say that it was only when I changed my thinking (using the formula above) that my life came together.
Today, I'm actually really excited whenever I discover something that I'm afraid to do, because I know that something wonderful is going to happen--provided I summon the courage to take action!

If the real estate market was the sun... It would be the top of the morning!

Home values rise for first time in 5 years!

Numbers don't lie (usually), and the numbers are in.  According to  Case/Schiller and Zillow,  inventory is declining and home prices are rising.  While most would take this information and positive media as an end in the looming foreclosure disaster, it may be advisable to consider taking a closer look at how banks have been behaving lately.  

Just from personal experience and a few of the foreclosures I currently have under contract, banks seem to be moving a lot of inventory around to other banks and servicing companies.  While it is not uncommon to have a delayed closing due to waiting for an updated deed from a debt transfer, I currently have 4 out of the 23 bank owned transactions I am in the process of purchasing delayed for just that reason.  It is like anything that is troubled; when things get shaky, so do their actions.  For investors, take a closer look at your market before you decide to jump in feet first based on a couple of recent articles..... Unless, of course, you are buying in Texas!

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Home prices hit a bottom and are finally bouncing back, according to an industry report released Tuesday.

Nationwide, home values rose 0.2% year-over-year to a median $149,300 during the second quarter, the first annual increase since 2007, real estate listing site Zillow reported. Prices were up 2.1% from the first quarter.

Even though June marked the fourth consecutive month of home value increases, overall home prices are still down almost 24% since April 2007, when Zillow began to track home values.

"[I]t seems clear that the country has hit a bottom in home values," said Zillow's chief economist Stan Humphries. "The housing recovery is holding together despite lower-than-expected job growth, indicating that it has some organic strength of its own."

Last winter, Zillow projected that the housing market turnaround would not arrive until the end of the year.

Other home price indexes have also recorded gains lately, including the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index. In it latest release, it reported thathome prices in 20 major markets rose 1.3% in April, the first monthly increase in seven months.

Where home prices are rising the fastest

Zillow uses a different methodology in calculating home values than other home price indexes like Case-Shiller and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Sales of foreclosed, bank-owned properties, for example, are not factored into Zillow's data. Zillow does include short sales, however, which are more difficult to distinguish from conventional sales.

"Our index is geared to consumers, conventional sellers deciding whether they want to put their homes on the market," said Humphries.

The indexes that include foreclosures in their market data show larger price declines. The peak-to-trough drop for the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, for example, is about 34% compared with Zillow's 24%.

Fewer than one third of the 167 metro areas Zillow surveyed recorded annual increases in home values, but the size of the price gains in these areas more than offset the losses posted by the remaining two-thirds of the markets.

In Phoenix, the biggest gainer, home values soared 12.1% year-over-year to a median of $136,200. Meanwhile, the biggest loss sustained by any of the 30 largest metro areas was in Chicago where median home values fell 5.8% to $158,600.

Foreclosures remain one of the biggest risks to the housing market recovery, Humphries said. In the wake of the national foreclosure settlement which clarified how banks can legally pursue foreclosures, Humphries expects the pace of foreclosures to pick up.

"That will translate to more homes on the market," he said. "But we think demand will rise to absorb that."

Zillow expects the housing market to continue to slowly recover, with median home values projected to climb 1.1% -- relatively flat -- over the next 12 months.

Most affordable cities for buying a home

Beaten down markets like Phoenix, Las Vegas and many Florida cities, will likely record greater-than-average gains over the next 12 months, said Humphries.

The results in those places, however, will be bumpy. Home price increases will cause some homeowners who have been patiently waiting for values to rebound to put their homes on the market. And those additional listings could cool prices for a while, resulting in a staircase effect with "price spikes followed by plateaus," said Humphries.