Posts tagged: properties in dubai

Why real estate agents need to stay motivated and on top of their market

Real estate is sales. No more and no less. You can go for months without selling anything and, naturally, be discouraged that you’ll ever succeed. Feast and famine is the order of the industry. So it is crucial that you break through this feeling to land your million dollar deal for the year. To land those deals you have to BELIEVE that you can do it – and that is why motivation is so important!

Motivation is also important for the following reasons:

a. Personality makes the sale!

Motivating yourself is essential because in real estate it is your personality, almost more than anything else, that counts. Reputation travels fast. Your success will hinge on word of mouth. Make a good impression and many more clients will want you to service them. That is why it is crucial that you feel on top of your field and that you remain confident in your abilities and skills, even when things don’t go as planned. Real estate can be hugely stressful – both for you and for your client. If a client leaves unhappy, whether it was due to your efforts or not, word-of-mouth spreads quickly and can affect your referral network and, ultimately, your bottom-line. Remain motivated!

b. Motivation gives you momentum!

Motivation pumps you up. Real estate is a feast and famine phenomenon. The famine part may be harder to sustain your energy for the feast. But the feast will come if you’re primed for it. That is why it is so important to retain your motivation so that you keep on enhancing your skills and so that you, somehow or other, manage to maintain your relish for your work. Motivated agents are more inclined to go the extra mile for their leads and clients, and the extra mile is always worth it.

c. You are self-employed

At the end of the day, you are running your own business – and that is precisely why motivation matters! As agent, you may work under a broker and the broker may provide you with marketing tools, education and mentoring, but, ultimately, you are responsible for your own results. It will be largely up to you to find the leads, manage them and close the deals. In short, you as agent are a business-person, an entrepreneur, self-employed and, like any self-employed individual, you will have to motivate yourself to keep your business going. In other words, the drive, determination, and self-discipline, must ultimately come from the agents themselves. And that is why it is so important for you to be self-motivated!

d. Motivation is one of the two most important skills!

Real estate hinges on knowledge. You’ll need to know your geographic locality inside out as well as going property prices and industry regulations. But, otherwise, the two most important factors are your personality and motivation. As regards personality, you’ll need to be gregarious, likeable, and you’ll need to possess excellent people skills. You’ll also need to have empathy in order to understand people’s situations and needs, so as to serve them best. Otherwise a positive attitude is crucial. Without that, you are at risk of defaulting on the first particularly since you’ll, likely, find the labor uphill work for you (especially in the beginning) and tend to be disheartened or frustrated. In that way, motivation underlies anything to do with real estate and is basically the corner-stone of your success.

Says Zurple, the real estate lead generation agency: Success in real estate relies on two main things – a great business strategy and a strong drive to succeed. If you’re missing one or the other, you will struggle. And if you have both – your’e on your way to success.

The bottom line is this…

Success in business, especially the real estate industry isn’t the 100 meter dash – it is a marathon. Maintaining a steady level of motion can be tricky, but it’s your main – if not your only – way to success.

Here are three tips that can help you:

1. Recognize your progress: Take it slow and pat yourself on the back for those minor victories. Congratulate yourself for staying on task and for completing all those incremental steps that were so necessary for closing the deal.
2. Find yourself a successful mentor: In the cutthroat industry of real estate finding someone excellent to help you can be laborious. Avoid brokers who are ready to hire you for fees. Take your time in finding someone who is a good match for you, who is honest and who has your best interests in mind so that he. or she, will give you the time and guidance that you need.
3. Organize your time well: Set aside time to speak to clients, review industry reports and statistics, attend meetings, and see to all the other variables that go into the real estate schedule. Improve your skills as you go. Don’t avoid tasks that you don’t like. Be self-disciplined. Look to the future – don’t dwell on your failures; learn from them.

And one more thing…

Get and stay motivated!

In the past – several months, in most parts of this country, we have witnessed, a significant increase, in both, listing, and selling prices, of houses, on the real estate market! Few, remember, as large, an increase, in recent memory! Even, after, over 15 years, as a Real Estate Licensed Salesperson, in the State of New York, I am amazed, at the level, of recent prices, and sales! How long, will this continue, and, what may occur, in the not – so – distant future? Many factors, are involved, and no one, is certain, how long, this record, unprecedented, Sellers Market, will continue, nor, what might follow! With, that in mind, this article will attempt to, briefly, consider, examine, review, and discuss, 5 key factors, and why they matter, as well as, how important, it is, for home owners, and potential buyers, to understand these.

1. Supply and Demand: Over – time, perhaps, the most significant factor, affecting real estate, residential pricing, is Supply and Demand! How many houses, are available, as opposed to, the number of true, qualified, potential buyers? When supply exceeds demand, we refer to it, as a Buyers Market, and when the opposite occurs, sellers have the upper – hand! Although, we currently, are witnessing, many more buyers, than sellers (houses available), this won’t go – on, forever! Historically, real estate is cyclical, and there is no reason, to expect, sooner, or later, this will again, occur! When might rising prices, and other factors, outweigh, the pent – up, desire to buy, and, what might occur, when/ if, interest rates, rise?

2. Mortgage interest rates: We have been experiencing, record – low, mortgage interest rates, for a prolonged, period! This creates the ability, for many, to buy a more expensive home, because, their monthly payments, will be lower, than usual! Eventually, interest rates, and, thus, the true costs, of a mortgage, will rise, and, how might that impact, the overall market, into the future?

3. Overall economy: Overall economic conditions, impact consumer confidence, and, thus, creates greater activity! Is the economy, really, strong, or is this an after – effect, of, the prolonged period, of pandemic impacts, and emotions?

4. Job security/ confidence: When, the level of job security, and our confidence, in the consistency, and future performance, of all, related factors, we witness, more potential buyers! In addition, many homeowners, after the extended period, we have experienced, seek, both a change, and seriously, consider, trying to take advantage of today’s prices!

5. Specific local area, and market: Certain areas, regions, and specific locations, are, more, in – demand, than others, largely, because of the ramifications, and impacts, related to the pandemic, etc! The immediate impact, occurred, in larger cities, which experienced, lower prices, because of less demand. How long will this occur?

It is generally, challenging, and difficult, to accurately, predict, and time, the real estate market. How, time, rising interest rates, and changing perspectives, as well as, the inability, of some, to come – up, with the necessary down – payment, will certainly create a changing market!

Timeshare and vacation ownership. what are they about? What is it like to have a career in this industry? What does it take to make a six-figure income and to stay employed in the industry?

I am not writing these articles with the intention of hiring anyone since I’m not a sales recruiter. I do have an MBA in real estate development and management and my pet peeve in business is employee turnover. I just don’t like it. Turnover in the vacation ownership/timeshare industry is horrible.

My MBA side of my brain tells me that turnover is expensive and not exciting or positive for anyone involved. You’ve also probably heard that dissatisfied customers or employees can do more damage to the business in the long run than the happy customers and employees can do to improve your bottom line.

If something frustrates you or gets you mad, the best thing you can do, instead of anger management or psychotherapy, is to take action. So here I am.

Most salespeople hired to sell vacation ownership or timeshare need a real estate or timeshare sales license. If you have the time and the money, the more comprehensive full real estate license will allow you more career options and I highly recommend more education in any field if you want to be successful and stay in the industry.

What happens when a person gets a job selling timeshare or vacation ownership. At this time in the industry, potential guests or prospects are marketed and invited to a sales presentation. The majority of these guest invitations include an incentive or gift for the participant’s time. People love gifts, and incentives, and a good deal. We’re greedy, bargain hunters. The industry knows this and depends on us to fill the sales centers for presentations.

As a salesperson, the presentations you will make will often range from 90 minutes to 3 hours, depending on the company you work for. With timeshare or vacation ownership sales the unique factor is that the guest or participant you will try to sell has come to see your resort and product with intentions of getting a gift, getting out fast, and most have no intention of buying anything.

Selling people who have not come to buy anything and often who have an agreement not to buy no matter what you have, no matter how good it sounds, and no matter how affordable. This is such a different form of selling than working in a retail store where people have come in specifically to buy something and with intentions of taking it home with them.

The employee turnover in the timeshare and vacation ownership sales industry is huge. It’s horrible. Employers spend an amazing amount of money to find salespeople and salespeople get in the business and are shocked by the rejection and how hard it can be to sell people their vacations and they run away. A successful timeshare salesperson must be perceived by the guest as authentic and sincere. Companies should have more comprehensive sales training to help build the employees skills so they will be able to stay on the job.

I attended a financial seminar and they discussed the “Asset Value of Employees .” My question is, ” If employees are your greatest asset, how much money and value are you adding to the bottom line of your competitors when they leave you and go to work for your competitors?” If the companies finally calculate these numbers they will have to pay more attention to keeping their employees and not letting them fail and leave.

In the last few years there has been a trend toward a complete discounting of the Cost Approach to value in residential appraisal. For owner occupied homes, the sole technique is now the Sales Comparison Analysis, which involves selecting and comparing individual property sales to a subject property.

Many lenders and government agencies no longer require the Cost Approach technique, even on new or nearly new construction, and appraisers are often instructed to omit it completely, or not to place any reliance on the results. When a lender does require that the Cost Approach be completed, it seems that this is only so that a proper amount of homeowner insurance can be determined. This is, of course, something critically important to the lender as well as the homeowner, but should not be the only criteria for the use of a cost-depreciation analysis.

Years ago a Cost Approach was always required for an appraisal report. The basis of this approach was the Principle of Substitution, which holds that a prudent buyer will not pay more for a home than the cost to acquire an equally desirable substitute home. Accordingly, the reproduction or replacement cost new of a home set the upper possible limit on value, particularly for an existing preowned home. So this analysis served not only as an additional means of estimating value, but also as a governor on runaway home prices.

The cost approach also served an important function as an educational tool for appraisers. To perform this approach, an appraiser had to have at least a minimal working knowledge of residential construction and to carefully observe the quality and condition of the various components of the home. Cost data services, which still exist today, provide continuously updated information on the various costs of construction involved in a home and some are quite accurate.

One service publishes a manual with a wealth of good data and information, complete with descriptions and photographs that illustrate the differences in quality and appearance for different types of homes, which is a great way for new or inexperienced appraisers to familiarize themselves with these features. In recent times I have come across reports by relatively new appraisers where no cost approach was done and it was painfully obvious that the appraiser knew very little about construction or how to evaluate the differences between their subject and the comparable sales they used in the Sales Comparison Analysis. I suspect we have a new generation of appraisers out there who have this deficiency and that’s a bad sign for the future. The best appraisers know something about construction and can immediately spot differences among homes as to their quality level. This ability is also critical for the appraisal reviewer.

The Cost Approach is not without its weaknesses. The primary weakness is in the estimate of depreciation, be it physical, functional or external in nature. These things are difficult to estimate, but again, the appraiser who learns how to do this becomes more knowledgeable and competent, both in the Cost and Sales Comparison methods. Another weakness is in estimating the land value. Actual sales are often not available as a means to determine what buyers are paying for a similar lot and so market abstraction (also called extraction) is used to estimate the ratio of land value to dwelling value from market sales of already built homes. Improperly done, this technique is subject to serious errors. The general rule for the Cost Approach is that it is most accurate when the dwelling is not very old and sales of nearby similar lots are available.

I am of the opinion that the majority of foreclosures involve relatively new homes and that this is where the largest amount of lending losses occur. At least, that’s how it is in my local market which has always had a lot of new construction. There are many reasons for foreclosures, but certainly one is upgrades.

Builders typically offer various home models at “base” prices and offer upgrades for both the home and the lot. Buyers can choose from a wide variety of options to enhance the home and can choose lots that are different in size or that have more trees or other desirable aspects. This is great for the buyer but can become a nightmare for the lender when a foreclosure happens because so many of those nice upgrades do not hold their value in subsequent foreclosure sales, and often do not hold their value as the distressed homeowner desperately tries to sell the home to avoid foreclosure.

The homeowner finds out they are “upside down” meaning the home cannot be sold for as much as the mortgage amount, especially when the initial down payment was very low or when financing costs were included (rolled into) the mortgage, necessitating an increase in the sale price. Another problem is inflated upgrade cost where some builders mark up the prices of upgrades well beyond normal prices that consumers pay at retail stores, even with installation added on. This is similar to what many service contractors (plumbers, car mechanics, etc.) do because they want to make a profit on the “parts” as well as the labor. The problem comes when the markup is excessive.

There is little an appraiser can do about upgrades when it can be shown that buyers often do select upgrades with their new home purchase. In the absence of current resales or foreclosures to compare with, it is not possible to estimate the resale value of upgrades, and values are estimated as of a given date, not the future.

The Cost Approach long served as a reasonable basis for making adjustments to market sales in the Sales Comparison Analysis for individual items. If a home needed a new roof, the appraiser had a handy source for determining the cost for this. Likewise for appliances, HVAC equipment, a garage and the like. Removing the Cost Approach and the good data that comes with it forces too many appraisers to have to guess at these kinds of adjustments and the results can vary wildly from one appraiser to the next.

Long ago homes were valued only by a Cost Approach. The Sales Comparison Analysis (formerly known as the Market Approach) came later. I don’t believe it is a coincidence that foreclosure rates and personal bankruptcies caused by unaffordable mortgage amounts and runaway home prices seem to have increased so much in recent years while the use of the Cost Approach has declined at the same time. Not do I believe it is a coincidence that the decrease in emphasis on cost minus depreciation began about the same time as tremendous inflows of capital into the marketplace encouraged every sort of easy money credit scheme that allowed so many people to buy homes they couldn’t actually afford and that has severely damaged not only the US economy, but the entire world. Mountains of money to lend tend to push caution to the side.

I believe that the Sales Comparison Analysis is surely a good valuation technique, but its down side is that there are too many clever ways for market participants to smuggle hidden costs, fees and even fraud into sales contracts, which make their way silently into market data services and onto appraisal reports. The same can be true for unhidden costs like seller paid loan discount fees and other monies paid toward buyer closing costs. At a minimum, an accurate Cost Approach serves as a useful check on the results of even the most thorough and detailed Sales Comparison Analysis where the appraiser is carefully searching for and analyzing such things. Undesirable things can and do happen in real estate and some can slip past even the best Sales Comparison Analysis because they happen quietly and incrementally.

An example of this is what I call closing cost price compounding. A real estate agent provides a seller a pricing analysis where the agent has found 20 recent sales of similar homes in the area and averaged the prices to arrive at a figure he or she believes is correct for the home. The home is then marketed at that price. Along comes a buyer (perhaps from a higher cost market) who lacks cash, needs some assistance with his closing costs, and makes an offer at or very near the asking price. The seller counters with an offer in which he adds the amount of assistance the buyer asked for to the price.

But what if this type of assistance turns out to be normal for the area and is already reflected in the selling prices of those 20 homes used to set the asking price to begin with? The new sale closes at the upwardly adjusted price and is then used as a “comp” by other agents and by appraisers and the process continues with every repeat occurrence of the needy buyer, causing home prices to rise, affordability to lessen, creating more needy buyers, and setting in motion a snowball effect where prices to rise eventually to the point that they exceed even cost new. This is not unlike interest compounding on your savings account. Over time your balance goes up faster and faster. Combine this with other inflationary market tendencies and you get a nasty bubble that will some day burst to the peril of us all…again.

Obviously, this could be avoided by competent sales agents who understand that those 20 sales already included heavy seller costs and inform their clients of this, but many do not and there is a built in incentive to push prices as high as possible among people working on commission. An accurate Cost Approach would tend to catch this anomaly immediately or at least decrease its effects down the line in future sales because when home prices begin to exceed what it would cost to build an equally desirable substitute home brand new, the competent appraiser knows that something is wrong and that they need to dig deeper into the market data.

A Cost Approach is also a great lie detector for fraudulent appraisals. If an appraiser included a Cost Approach and is using a known cost source or manual that others can subscribe or view, then the estimated costs shown in the appraisal can be reproduced from that same source by someone reviewing the report. So if the appraiser has fudged on cost, that can be detected simply by examining the cost source and parameters the appraiser had described. Moreover, even if the appraiser showed the correct costs, the fraudulently inflated appraisal will exhibit inflated land value in the Cost Approach with little or no support as to where the land value estimate comes from or why it is so high. In fraudulent appraisals, the Cost Approach is “plugged in” with numbers to match the Sales Comparison Analysis. That’s because an honest Cost Approach would have indicated a significantly lower value for the home.

There are other examples of how the Cost Approach could eliminate or reduce runaway home prices, and even detect fraud. I believe it is a foolish mistake to take away or encourage the disuse of any type of analysis or tool from appraisers that has a basis in market data. An analyst in any field of study should be willing and enabled to use as many ways as possible of looking at a problem. Focusing on just one method encourages tunnel vision. I say bring back the Cost Approach and let appraisers decide how useful or accurate it is on a case by case basis. It is not the end-all be-all solution but it is a valuable and worthwhile tool.

A by owner property sale can be a harrowing experience. The sale by owner process is not an easy one especially if you haven’t done it before. In today’s market it is more stressful than ever to sell a home quick. The majority of FSBO home sellers are having some degree of difficulty in making their monthly mortgage payments. Even though you are very anxious to sell your home quickly, you need to be cautious. If you sign a sale contract with the wrong buyer you will be in a worse position than if you had done nothing. You will not want to trust everybody who expresses interest in your property for sale. In fact it is smarter to trust nobody until they prove they deserve to be trusted. It is also smart to hire a lawyer to look everything over for you and give you good counsel on offer and sale contracts. If you are very aware of your buyer’s moves you should be able to spot some danger signs before they become a problem.

The Top 5 Warning Signs That You Have an Untrustworthy Buyer Do not trust a buyer:

1. Who wants to make buying your home contingent on the sale of their old house first
2. Who wants to put up a very small deposit
3. Who wants you to finance their purchase so they don’t have to apply for a loan
4. Who has not received pre-approval for a mortgage loan
5. Who includes many other contingencies in the sale contract which allows them to back out of the deal

Selling your home quickly at a good price is your #1 goal. Be sure to make your #2 goal to watch out for shady buyers so they don’t ruin the whole deal.

Restaurants are a favorite commercial property for many investors because:

1. Tenants often sign a very long term, e.g. 20 years absolute triple net (NNN) leases. This means, besides the rent, tenants also pay for property taxes, insurance and all maintenance expenses. The only thing the investor has to pay is the mortgage, which in turn offers very predictable cash flow. There are either no or few landlord responsibilities because the tenant is responsible for maintenance. This allows the investor more time to do important thing in life, e.g. retire. All you do is take the rent check to the bank. This is one of the key benefits in investing in a restaurant or single-tenant property.
2. Whether rich or poor, people need to eat. Americans are eating out more often as they are too busy to cook and cleanup the pots & pans afterwards which often is the worst part! According to the National Restaurant Association, the nation’s restaurant industry currently involves 937,000 restaurants and is expected to reach $537 billion in sales in 2007, compared to just $322 billion in 1997 and $200 billion in 1987 (in current dollars). In 2006, for every dollar Americans spend on foods, 48 cents were spent in restaurants. As long as there is civilization on earth, there will be restaurants and the investor will feel comfortable that the property is always in high demand.
3. You know your tenants will take very good care of your property because it’s in their best interest to do so. Few customers, if any, want to go to a restaurant that has a filthy bathroom and/or trash in the parking lot.

However, restaurants are not created equal, from an investment viewpoint.

Franchised versus Independent

One often hears that 9 out of 10 new restaurants will fail in the first year; however, this is just an urban myth as there are no conclusive studies on this. There is only a study by Associate Professor of Hospitality, Dr. H.G. Parsa of Ohio State University who tracked new restaurants located in the city Columbus, Ohio during the period from 1996 to 1999 (Note: you should not draw the conclusion that the results are the same everywhere else in the US or during any other time periods.) Dr. Parsa observed that seafood restaurants were the safest ventures and that Mexican restaurants experience the highest rate of failure in Columbus, OH. His study also found 26% of new restaurants closed in the first year in Columbus, OH during 1996 to 1999. Besides economic failure, the reasons for restaurants closing include divorce, poor health, and unwillingness to commit immense time toward operation of the business. Based on this study, it may be safe to predict that the longer the restaurant has been in business, the more likely it will be operating the following year so that the landlord will continue to receive the rent.

For franchised restaurants, a franchisee has to have a certain minimal amount of non-borrowed cash/capital, e.g. $300,000 for McDonald’s, to qualify. The franchisee has to pay a one-time franchisee fee about $30,000 to $50,000. In addition, the franchisee has contribute royalty and advertising fees equal to about 4% and 3% of sales revenue, respectively. In turn, the franchisee receives training on how to set up and operate a proven and successful business without worrying about the marketing part. As a result, a franchised restaurant gets customers as soon as the open sign is put up. Should the franchisee fail to run the business at the location, the franchise may replace the current franchisee with a new one. The king of franchised hamburger restaurants is the fast-food chain McDonald’s with over 32000 locations in 118 countries (about 14,000 in the US) as of 2010. It has $34.2B in sales in 2011 with an average of $2.4M in revenue per US location. McDonald’s currently captures over 50% market share of the $64 billion US hamburger restaurant market. Its sales are up 26% in the last 5 years. Distant behind is Wendy’s (average sales of $1.5M) with $8.5B in sales and 5904 stores. Burger King ranks third (average sales of $1.2M) with $8.4B in sale, 7264 stores and 13% of the hamburger restaurant market share (among all restaurant chains, Subway is ranked number two with $11.4B in sales, 23,850 stores, and Starbucks number 3 with $9.8B in sales and 11,158 stores). McDonald’s success apparently is not the result of how delicious its Big Mac tastes but something else more complex. Per a survey of 28,000 online subscribers of Consumer Report magazine, McDonald’s hamburgers rank last among 18 national and regional fast food chains. It received a score of 5.6 on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best, behind Jack In the Box (6.3), Burger King (6.3), Wendy’s (6.6), Sonic Drive In (6.6), Carl’s Jr (6.9), Back Yard Burgers (7.6), Five Guys Burgers (7.9), and In-N-Out Burgers (7.9).

Fast-food chains tend to detect new trends faster. For example, they are open as early as 5AM as Americans are increasingly buying their breakfasts earlier. They are also selling more cafe; latte; fruit smoothies to compete with Starbucks and Jumba Juice. You also see more salads on the menu. This gives customers more reasons to stop by at fast-food restaurants and make them more appealing to different customers.

With independent restaurants, it often takes a while to for customers to come around and try the food. These establishments are especially tough in the first 12 months of opening, especially with owners of minimal or no proven track record. So in general, “mom and pop” restaurants are risky investment due to initial weak revenue. If you choose to invest in a non-brand name restaurant, make sure the return is proportional to the risks that you will be taking.

Sometimes it is not easy for you to tell if a restaurant is a brand name or non-brand name. Some restaurant chains only operate, or are popular in a certain region. For example, WhatABurger restaurant chain with over 700 locations in 10 states is a very popular fast-food restaurant chain in Texas and Georgia. However, it is still unknown on the West Coast as of 2012. Brand name chains tend to have a website listing all the locations plus other information. So if you can find a restaurant website from Google or Yahoo you can quickly discern if an unfamiliar name is a brand name or not. You can also obtain basic consumer information about almost any chain restaurants in the US on Wikipedia.

The Ten Fastest-Growing Chains in 2011 with Sales Over $200 Million
According to Technomic, the following is the 10 fastest growing restaurant chains in terms of revenue change from 2010 to 2011:

1. Five Guys Burgers and Fries with $921M in sales and 32.8% change.
2. Chipotle Mexican Grill with $2.261B in sales and 23.4% change.
3. Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwich Shop with $895M in sales and 21.8% change.
4. Yard House with $262M in sales and 21.5% change.
5. Firehouse Subs with $285M in sales and 21.1% change.
6. BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse with $621M in sales and 20.9% change.
7. Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar with $2.045B in sales and 20.1% change.
8. Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers with $206M in sales and 18.2% change.
9. Noodles & Company with $300M in sales and 14.9% change from.
10. Wingstop with $382M in sales and 22.1% change.

Lease & Rent Guaranty

The tenants often sign a long term absolute triple net (NNN) lease. This means, besides the base rent, they also pay for all operating expenses: property taxes, insurance and maintenance expenses. For investors, the risk of maintenance expenses uncertainty is eliminated and their cash flow is predictable. The tenants may also guarantee the rent with their own or corporate assets. Therefore, in case they have to close down the business, they will continue paying rent for the life of the lease. Below are a few things that you need to know about the lease guaranty:

1. In general, the stronger the guaranty the lower the return of your investment. The guaranty by McDonald’s Corporation with a strong “A” S&P corporate rating of a public company is much better than a small corporation owned by a franchisee with a few restaurants. Consequently, a restaurant with a McDonald’s corporate lease normally offers low 4.5-5% cap (return of investment in the 1^st year of ownership) while McDonald’s with a franchisee guaranty (over 75% of McDonalds restaurants are owned by franchisees) may offer 5-6% cap. So figure out the amount of risks you are willing to take as you won’t get both low risks and high returns in an investment.
2. Sometimes a multi-location franchise will form a parent company to own all the restaurants. Each restaurant in turn is owned by a single-entity Limited Liabilities Company (LLC) to shield the parent company from liabilities. So the rent guaranty by the single-entity LLC does not mean much since it does not have much assets.
3. A good, long guaranty does not make a lemon a good car. Similarly, a strong guaranty does not make a lousy restaurant a good investment. It only means the tenant will make every effort to pay you the rent. So don’t judge a property primarily on the guaranty.
4. The guaranty is good until the corporation that guarantees it declares bankruptcy. At that time, the corporation reorganizes its operations by closing locations with low revenue and keeping the good locations, (i.e. ones with strong sales). So it’s more critical for you to choose a property at a good location. If it happens to have a weak guaranty, (e.g. from a small, private company), you will get double benefits: on time rent payment and high return.
5. If you happen to invest in a “mom & pop” restaurant, make sure all the principals, e.g. both mom and pop, guarantee the lease with their assets. The guaranty should be reviewed by an attorney to make sure you are well protected.

Location, Location, Location

A lousy restaurant may do well at a good location while those with a good menu may fail at a bad location. A good location will generate strong revenue for the operator and is primarily important to you as an investor. It should have these characteristics:

1. High traffic volume: this will draw more customers to the restaurant and as a result high revenue. So a restaurant at the entrance to a regional mall or Disney World, a major shopping mall, or colleges is always desirable.
2. Good visibility & signage: high traffic volume must be accompanied by good visibility from the street. This will minimize advertising expenses and is a constant reminder for diners to come in.
3. Ease of ingress and egress: a restaurant located on a one-way service road running parallel to a freeway will get a lot of traffic and has great visibility but is not at a great location. It’s hard for potential customers to get back if they miss the entrance. In addition, it’s not possible to make a left turn. On the other hand, the restaurant just off freeway exit is more convenient for customers.
4. Excellent demographics: a restaurant should do well in an area with a large, growing population and high incomes as it has more people with money to spend. Its business should generate more and more income to pay for increasing higher rents.
5. Lots of parking spaces: most chained restaurants have their own parking lot to accommodate customers at peak hours. If customer cannot find a parking space within a few minutes, there is a good chance they will skip it and/or won’t come back as often. A typical fast food restaurant will need about 10 to 20 parking spaces per 1000 square feet of space. Fast food restaurants, e.g. McDonald’s will need more parking spaces than sit down restaurants, e.g. Olive Garden.
6. High sales revenue: the annual gross revenue alone does not tell you much since larger–in term of square footage–restaurant tends to have higher revenue. So the rent to revenue ratio is a better gauge of success. Please refer to rent to revenue ratio in the due diligence section for further discussion.
7. High barriers to entry: this simply means that it’s not easy to replicate this location nearby for various reasons: the area simply does not have any more developable land, or the master plan does not allow any more construction of commercial properties, or it’s more expensive to build a similar property due to high cost of land and construction materials. For these reasons, the tenant is likely to renew the lease if the business is profitable.

Financing Considerations

In general, the interest rate is a bit higher than average for restaurants due to the fact that they are single-tenant properties. To the lenders, there is a perceived risk because if the restaurant is closed down, you could potentially lose 100% of your income from that restaurant. Lenders also prefer national brand name restaurants. In addition, some lenders will not loan to out-of-state investors especially if the restaurants are located in smaller cities. So it may be a good idea for you to invest in a franchised restaurant in major metro areas, e.g. Atlanta, Dallas. In 2009 it’s quite a challenge to get financing for sit-down restaurant acquisitions, especially for mom and pop and regional restaurants due to the tight credit market. However, things seem to have improved a bit in 2010. If you want to get the best rate and terms for the loan, you should stick to national franchised restaurants in major metros.

When the cap rate is higher than the interest rate of the loan, e.g. cap rate is 7.5% while interest rate is 6.5%, then you should consider borrowing as much as possible. You will get 7.5% return on your down payment plus 1% return for the money you borrow. Hence your total return (cash on cash) will be higher than the cap rate. Additionally, since the inflation in the near future is expected to be higher due to rising costs of fuel, the money which you borrow to finance your purchase will be worth less. So it’s even more beneficial to maximize leverage now.

Due Diligence Investigation

You may want to consider these factors before deciding to go forward with the purchase:

1. Tenant’s financial information: The restaurant business is labor intensive. The average employee generates only about $55,000 in revenue annually. The cost of goods, e.g. foods and supplies should be around 30-35% of revenue; labor and operating expenses 45-50%; rent about 7-12%. So do review the profits and loss (P&L) statements, if available, with your accountant. In the P&L statement, you may see the acronym EBITDAR. It stands for Earnings Before Income Taxes, Depreciation (of equipment), Amortization (of capital improvement), and Rent. If you don’t see royalty fees in P&L of a franchised restaurant or advertising expenses in the P&L of an independent restaurant, you may want to understand the reason why. Of course, we will want to make sure that the restaurant is profitable after paying the rent. Ideally, you would like to see net profits equal to 10-20% of the gross revenue. In the last few years the economy has taken a beating. As a result, restaurants have experienced a decrease in gross revenue of around 3-4%. This seems to have impacted most, if not all, restaurants everywhere. In addition, it may take a new restaurant several years to reach potential revenue target. So don’t expect new locations to be profitable right away even for chained restaurants.
2. Tenant’s credit history: if the tenant is a private corporation, you may be able to obtain the tenant’s credit history from Dun & Bradstreet (D&B). D&B provides Paydex score, the business equivalent of FICO, i.e. personal credit history score. This score ranges from 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating better payment performance. A Paydex score of 75 is equivalent to FICO score of 700. So if your tenant has a Paydex score of 80, you are likely to receive the rent checks promptly.
3. Rent to revenue ratio: this is the ratio of base rent over the annual gross sales of the store. It is a quick way to determine if the restaurant is profitable, i.e. the lower the ratio, the better the location. As a rule of thumb you will want to keep this ratio less than 10% which indicates that the location has strong revenue. If the ratio is less than 7%, the operator will very likely make a lot of money after paying the rent. The rent guaranty is probably not important in this case. However, the rent to revenue ratio is not a precise way to determine if the tenant is making a profit or not. It does not take into account the property taxes expense as part of the rent. Property taxes–computed as a percentage of assessed value–vary from states to states. For example, in California it’s about 1.25% of the assessed value, 3% in Texas, and as high as 10% in Illinois. And so a restaurant with rent to income ratio of 8% could be profitable in one state and yet be losing money in another.
4. Parking spaces: restaurants tend to need a higher number of parking spaces because most diners tend to stop by within a small time window. You will need at least 8 parking spaces per 1000 Square Feet (SF) of restaurant space. Fast food restaurants may need about 15 to 18 spaces per 1000 SF.
5. Termination Clause: some of the long term leases give the tenant an option to terminate the lease should there be a fire destroying a certain percentage of the property. Of course, this is not desirable to you if that percentage is too low, e.g. 10%. So make sure you read the lease. You also want to make sure the insurance policy also covers rental income loss for 12-24 months in case the property is damaged by fire or natural disasters.
6. Price per SF: you should pay about $200 to $500 per SF. In California you have to pay a premium, e.g. $1000 per SF for Starbucks restaurants which are normally sold at very high price per SF. If you pay more than $500 per SF for the restaurant, make sure you have justification for doing so.
7. Rent per SF: ideally you should invest in a property in which the rent per SF is low, e.g. $2 to $3 per SF per month. This gives you room to raise the rent in the future. Besides, the low rent ensures the tenant’s business is profitable, so he will be around to keep paying the rent. Starbucks tend to pay a premium rent $2 to 4 per SF monthly since they are often located at a premium location with lots of traffic and high visibility. If you plan to invest in a restaurant in which the tenant pays more than $4 per SF monthly, make sure you could justify your decision because it’s hard to make a profit in the restaurant business when the tenant is paying higher rent. Some restaurants may have a percentage clause. This means besides the minimum base rent, the operator also pays you a percentage of his revenue when it reaches a certain threshold.
8. Rent increase: A restaurant landlord will normally receive either a 2% annual rent increase or a 10% increase every 5 years. As an investor you should prefer 2% annual rent increase because 5 years is a long time to wait for a raise. You will also receive more rent with 2% annual increase than 10% increase every 5 years. Besides, as the rent increases every year so does the value of your investment. The value of restaurant is often based on the rent it generates. If the rent is increased while the market cap remains the same, your investment will appreciate in value. So there is no key advantage for investing in a restaurant in a certain area, e.g. California. It’s more important to choose a restaurant at a great location.
9. Lease term: in general investors favor long term, e.g. 20 year lease so they don’t have to worry about finding new tenants. During a period with low inflation, e.g. 1% to 2%, this is fine. However, when the inflation is high, e.g. 4%, this means you will technically get less rent if the rent increase is only 2%. So don’t rule out properties with a few years left of the lease as there may be strong upside potential. When the lease expires without options, the tenant may have to pay much higher market rent.
10. Risks versus Investment Returns: as an investor, you like properties that offer very high return, e.g. 8% to 9% cap rate. And so you may be attracted to a brand new franchised restaurant offered for sale by a developer. In this case, the developer builds the restaurants completely with Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment (FFEs) for the franchisee based on the franchise specifications. The franchisee signs a 20 years absolute NNN lease paying very generous rent per SF, e.g. $4 to $5 per SF monthly. The new franchisee is willing to do so because he does not need to come up with any cash to open a business. Investors are excited about the high return; however, this may be a very risky investment. The one who is guaranteed to make money is the developer. The franchisee may not be willing to hold on during tough times as he does not have any equity in the property. Should the franchisee’s business fails, you may not be able to find a tenant willing to pay such high rent, and you may end up with a vacant restaurant.
11. Track records of the operator: the restaurant being run by an operator with 1 or 2 recently-open restaurants will probably be a riskier investment. On the other hand, an operator with 20 years in the business and 30 locations may be more likely to be around next year to pay you the rent.
12. Trade fixtures: some restaurants are sold with trade fixtures so make sure you document in writing what is included in the sale.
13. Fast-food versus Sit-down: while fast-food restaurants, e.g. McDonalds do well during the downturn, sit-down family restaurants tend to be more sensitive to the recession due to higher prices and high expenses. These restaurants may experience double-digit drop in year-to-year revenue. As a result, many sit-down restaurants were shut down during the recession. If you consider investing in a sit-down restaurant, you should choose one in an area with high income and large population.

Sale & Lease Back

Sometimes the restaurant operator may sell the real estate part and then lease back the property for a long time, e.g. 20 years. A typical investor would wonder if the operator is in financial trouble so that he has to sell the property to pay for his debts. It may or may not be the case; however, this is a quick and easy way for the restaurant operator to get cash out of the equities for good reason: business expansion. Of course, the operator could refinance the property with cash out but that may not be the best option because:

1. He cannot maximize the cash out as lenders often lend only 65% of the property value in a refinance situation.
2. The loan will show as long term debt in the balance sheet which is often not viewed in a positive light.
3. The interest rates may not be as favorable if the restaurant operator does not have a strong balance sheet.
4. He may not be able to find any lenders due to the tight credit market.

You will often see 2 different cash out strategies when you look at the rent paid by the restaurant operator:

1. Conservative market rent: the operator wants to make sure he pays a low rent so his restaurant business has a good chance of being profitable. He also offers conservative cap rate to investors, e.g. 7% cap. As a result, his cash out amount is small to moderate. This may be a low risk investment for an investor because the tenant is more likely to be able to afford the rent.
2. Significantly higher than market rent: the operator wants to maximize his cash out by pricing the property much higher than its market value, e.g. $2M for a $1M property. Investors are sometimes offered high cap rate, e.g. 10%. The operator may pay $5 of rent per square foot in an area where the rent for comparable properties is $3 per square foot. As a result, the restaurant business at this location may suffer a loss due to higher rents. However, the operator gets as much money as possible. This property could be very risky for you. If the tenant’s business does not make it and he declares bankruptcy, you will have to offer lower rent to another tenant to lease your building.

Ground Lease

Occasionally you see a restaurant on ground lease for sale. The term ground lease may be confusing as it could mean

1. You buy the building and lease the land owned by another investor on a long-term, e.g. 50 years, ground lease.
2. You buy the land in which the tenant owns the building. This is the most likely scenario. The tenant builds the restaurant with its own money and then typically signs a 20 years NNN lease to lease the lot. If the tenant does not renew the lease then the building is reverted to the landowner. The cap rate is often 1% lower, e.g. 6 to 7.25 percent, compared to restaurants in which you buy both land and building.

Since the tenant has to invest a substantial amount of money (whether its own or borrowed funds) for the construction of the building, it has to be double sure that this is the right location for its business. In addition, should the tenant fail to make the rent payment or fail to renew the lease, the building with substantial value will revert to you as the landowner. So the tenant will lose a lot more, both business and building, if it does not fulfill its obligation. And thus it thinks twice about not sending in the rent checks. In that sense, this is a bit safer investment than a restaurant which you own both the land and improvements. Besides the lower cap rate, the major drawbacks for ground lease are

1. There are no tax write-offs as the IRS does not allow you to depreciate its land value. So your tax liabilities are higher. The tenants, on the other hand, can depreciate 100% the value of the buildings and equipments to offset the profits from the business.
2. If the property is damaged by fire or natural disasters, e.g. tornados, some leases may allow the tenants to collect insurance proceeds and terminate the lease without rebuilding the properties in the last few years of the lease. Unfortunately, this author is not aware of any insurance companies that would sell fire insurance to you since you don’t own the building. So the risk is substantial as you may end up owning a very expensive vacant lot with no income and a huge property taxes bill.
3. Some of the leases allow the tenants not having to make any structure, e.g. roof, repairs in the last few years of the lease. This may require investors to spend money on deferred maintenance expenses and thus will have negative impact on the cash flow of the property.

Yes, You Can Be A Hero And Have Your Best Year Ever

“One out of 10 homeowners is not making their mortgage payment.”

“One out of six homeowners has an upside-down mortgage.”

“Seven out of 10 homeowners who lose their home to foreclosure didn’t contact a real estate agent or lender prior to foreclosure.”

These are just some of the statistics I heard at a Short Sale Summit in February in Carlsbad, California.

The guest speaker was Alex Charfen, co-founder of the Distressed Property Institute, who added that, with regards to today’s market, “What’s going on has just begun. If this were a baseball game, it’s inning number two or three.”

And while today’s market is no game, it is, says Charfen, a “once-in-a-lifetime gold rush” if you become the short sale expert in your area. That doesn’t mean a reluctant “Yeah, OK, I’ll do that short sale,” or a desperate “I’ll take that short sale – I’ll take anything!” That doesn’t mean you just add “Short Sale Expert” to your business cards and advertising.

It does mean you’ve spent serious time acquiring the knowledge to become an expert on helping people who are facing the worst (or close to it) financial crisis of their lives. It means you seek out prospects in a short sale situation. It means that you advertise for those prospects, you embrace those prospects, and you commit to helping them negotiate the best possible outcome.

It means you understand that you’re not doing this just for the commission check. You want to sell that home. You want to help that family avoid foreclosure and financial ruin. You want to help not just your client, but their entire community so it doesn’t turn into a ghost town of empty, neglected houses.

Why would I want to do that, you’re asking? Why not let some other agent deal with those people and their problems? Just give me a nice two-income family, 720+ FICO, steady jobs, big down payment, and I’ll find them the perfect home.

Of course you will. That is, if you can find that dream client.

There just aren’t that many of them out there. If they’re that dreamy, they’re generally already in a house and they’re not moving up or down or anywhere else until the economy is in better shape. It’s that lack of dream clients that’s driving record numbers of real estate agents out of the business every month.

So, who is out there to buy short sale properties? Plenty of first-time buyers, especially people who are renting. Relocating families who have to move. Investors looking to start or expand their portfolio. Short sales are an opportunity to acquire a property at below-market value. Read: A great deal for buyers. There are a lot of properties to choose from, and banks would rather sell the property than go through the time and expense of foreclosure (that is, “They’d rather remove a non-performing asset prior to acquisition,” as Charfen puts it).

What’s truly a pity – it’s worse than a pity – is the number of people whose homes go into foreclosure when they might have had a successful short sale. There’s a wealth of misinformation out there, and there are many people who actually think, “Short sale or foreclosure – same thing.” So they miss a mortgage payment, and then another and then another, and their lives go into a high-speed, downward spiral.

It doesn’t have to be that way, says Charfen. Once an agent is armed with training and a support network, “The agent lets people in his database and others know that he’s the short sale expert, he’s available, and he can help the seller sell and the buyer buy. He begins helping people, and his delighted clients enthusiastically refer him to their family members, friends and coworkers in similar situations. He becomes known as the short sale ‘Super Hero’ who not only handles short sales professionally and effectively, but he saves people from foreclosure.”

That’s not to suggest short sales are easy – they’re not. They require significantly more, and different, paperwork than a traditional real estate sale, and one missing piece can delay the transactions for weeks or months – or kill it altogether. Being a short sale Super Hero requires exceptional negotiating skills as you represent the seller and interact with the buyer’s agent or offers from multiple buyers’ agents. At various times you may be in contact with attorneys, title people, property tax people, contractors, tax advisors, accountants, and others. And then there’s the lender in the form of the loss mitigator, an overworked, underappreciated person who already has 300 files on his desk and why should he give yours priority? No, short sales are not easy. If they were, everyone would be doing them – right?

There are amazing opportunities right now for real estate agents who

o Are willing to spend the time to become educated about short sales.
o Are committed to putting the systems in place to help manage these complex transactions.
o Want more than a commission check – you want to help people get the best financial results possible and move on with their lives.

Those agents will prosper in this marketplace and make 2009 their best year ever.

Will you?

The first step to shopping for real estate in Nicaragua is to forget everything you know about the process back home… no matter where home may be.

Let me make one thing clear from the start. There are incredible bargains to be had buying property in Nicaragua. In fact, there is no other market in the Americas where insisting upon a 40% return on investment or better is reasonable. However, there are few similarities between the rules and regulations governing the real estate industries in North America or Europe, and Nicaragua. It’s because of this lack of similarities that foreign investors often get into trouble. There is a preconceived notion on the part of foreigners that the Nicaragua real estate industry is as carefully regulated as it is elsewhere, and it is this incorrect assumption that sets foreign investors up to be cheated. The only universal real estate investing rule that applies as equally in Nicaragua as it does anyway else is Caveat emptor, buyer beware.

Real Estate Brokers

Basically there’s no such thing in Nicaragua as a real estate brokerage that a Canadian, American or European would assume the term represents. There are real estate brokerage offices. Some even have familiar franchise names, but that’s where the similarity ends.

There is no mandated, formal training of real estate sales people, nor are there specific licensing requirements. Anyone can become a “realtor” by paying for a merchant license or incorporating a Nicaraguan company. I’m not suggesting this means “all” real estate sales people are incompetent or untrained… many are. In fact, there are a number of retired realtors who relocated to Nicaragua and maintain successful, upstanding businesses. However, there are many more who are not at all competent, and operate on the razor edge between honest business and outright fraud. Caveat emptor again!

There are no district or federal regulatory boards governing the real estate industry in place. Real estate sales are no more regulated than a vehicle sale transacted by a street vendor. Outright criminality is not ignored by authorities, but having the perpetrator jailed is unlikely to result in recovery of any money lost. The revenge should make a fleeced buyer feel better though. Nicaraguan jails exist to punish criminals, not rehabilitate, and they are Hell on Earth. Unfortunately though, most issues that can arise in a real estate transaction are considered civil matters by law enforcement and have to be treated as such. In short, whatever money you think you were cheated out of… consider it lost. Even with a judgement in the plaintiff’s favor, collecting money owed in a judgement rarely happens. So again, caveat emptor.

A serious shortcoming in the Nicaragua real estate market is that there is nothing similar to a Multi Listing Service (MLS). The lack of any form of MLS means there is no central registry of properties for sale, nor any information as to what a property sold for. The result is that it’s very difficult to decide what a house or commercial building in a particular neighbourhood is worth since there are no comparable property transactions to use as a guide. Appraisers base their appraisals on replacement cost mostly, and whatever else they provide is pure guess work. Ironically, banks require appraisals created by licensed Nicaraguan appraisers if mortgage funding is being requested.

There’s no such thing in Nicaragua as a listing similar to what most foreigners would understand the term to mean. Real estate shoppers will hear a realtor say that he or she has a listing, but it’s common to see two or more real estate signs on a single property. Likewise, the same property may appear on multiple real estate company websites and be advertised online by numerous different people. More confusing, the prices advertised may vary for the same house, sometimes by tens of thousands of dollars. Nicaraguans selling their homes rarely lock themselves into an agreement with one party wanting to sell their land, house or commercial building. If you want to sell something, the assumption is the more people trying to sell it the better. And by more people that can be realtors, the owner themselves, their family and friends, a neighbor, or a horse drawn carriage driver. This seems chaotic to a foreigner shopping for a retirement or vacation home, but it makes perfect sense to Nicaraguans. Without an MLS service that allows numerous realtors to show prospective buyers a listed property, letting everyone try to sell a property seems to be the best way to get exposure.

Another misconception foreign purchasers have when buying real estate in Nicaragua is that the seller is paying the real estate agent. This is sometimes the case, but even when it is the buyer may be asked to pay the commission. Yes, this is legal in Nicaragua. In fact, not only could there be a commission paid by the seller and buyer, but the real estate agent may have added an amount to what the seller actually wants in his or her hand. This too is legal. The worst case scenario is that the seller wants US$50,000 for his or her home. The sellers offers anyone selling the home US$1000 or a percentage. The real estate selling agent advertises the home for US$59,900, allowing for negotiating room. A buyer settles on US$55,000 but is told that in Nicaraguan the buyer pays the commission. Not actually the truth, but common enough that people think it’s a rule. The requested commission can be anything up to as much as 10%, or it can be a flat fee. Once all is said and done and the buyer agrees to purchase the property for US$55,000. In a case such as this, the ‘agent’ will insist on a nonrefundable US$5000 down payment. At closing the seller receives the US$50,000 that he or she wanted and the selling agent pockets the rest.

I know of a purchasers who handed a ‘realtor’ US$65.000 to purchase a 3 acre farm with a small house on the property. The ‘realtor’ then went to the owner of the property and paid him US$20,000 to buy the land. It gets worse… the ‘realtor’ never bothered to make the title transfer until the buyer discovered he was not the owner when he tried to pay long overdue taxes. In the end the property was purchased by a developer for little more than the original US$65,000, but 8 years of appreciation later. In another case Europeans purchase a home and overpaid US$85,000. Of course basing their offer on the European real estate values they knew, it was assumed they were getting a bargain. The ‘realtor’ pocketed the US$85,000 and a commission he charged the buy as well. Again, perfectly legal in Nicaragua… so caveat emptor.

The way to navigate through what foreigners view as market chaos is to use a knowledgeable real estate consultant to find a property you want, negotiate the price, terms and conditions, conduct the necessary due diligence, validate the title and survey, and so on. This is a fee based service but far less expensive than a percentage sales commission, and far, far less than a costly mistake would be. One such service is Nica Investments, a real estate consultancy that assists foreign investors purchasing real estate or businesses in Nicaragua.

When it comes to Real Estate Sales there is an old saying about wanting the best of both possible worlds, full service with discount prices. We’re not sure exactly where that came from, however we do know that home sellers now are able to experience that in an increasing number of markets. Simply stated, For Sale By Owners, FSBO’s, can now try to sell their homes on their own, and be allowed to enter the multiple listing service. What does this accomplish? It is a proven fact that the MLS is the most successful way to sell a home. The cooperative of agents in the MLS service interfacing with the internet gives the seller the greatest avenue to expose their home in the marketplace.

Many sellers say I would like to use that service, but I don’t want to pay 6 or 7 % to do it. Those same sellers say I am wiling to pay 3 % to someone who brings me a buyer, but I do not think the listing agent deserves 3 %. Now a number of companies offer this service. For a small flat fee of around $500, the seller gets into MLS and other local and national websites and still can advertise on their own to get a buyer. If the seller is successful on their own, a small fee or even no commission is due the listing agent depending on the agreement and services desired.

Why would an agent do this, to get more business. If they sell the home, they get the 3%. They can get other buyers from the listing to buy other properties and can get more listings. Everybody wins. The seller can have more flexibility in pricing, offer bonuses to the selling agent, or closing costs trust us, it works. Neighbors see their neighbor’s houses selling and it all generates more business, and it allows seller to have more flexibility to sell their home and make more money on their sale.

The Seller can use this savings to help the buyer with closing costs or lower their sales price or they can pocket the savings and use it as the down payment on the purchase of their next home. Bottom Line with Flat Fee Multiple Listing Services, For Sale By Owners, are give the marketing power of the MLS without paying full price for both sides of the Real Estate Commissions and allowing them to save thousands of dollars on their sale of their home.

Property builders invest tons of money in their projects and expect the return in multiples. What they really need is the ability to generate leads and administer their internal process smoothly and efficiently. For this, they need a solid real estate software solution that works effortlessly and in parallel to the current business practice to offer efficiencies within the business. Today, it is not easy to buy a real estate management software solution that can seamlessly capture, share, address, distribute, check and track every lead from your registration pages that you can customise to your business.

The software automatically updates its records as when it gets a query or registration. The user is then engaged to follow-up to manage the sales people and purchasers contracts. It displays complete information through its dashboard as well as alerts you for your future activities. Software developers also provide complete support to the real estate agents or brokers so that they can administer the software in a seemingly effective way. Unquestionably, it will help you engage, nurture and close more sales, streamlining your business.

Today’s modern and competitive real estate software and marketing sales solutions helps generate sales and leads using an automated system. It simply grows sales, distribution channels and sales conversions exponentially and effortlessly for the real estate brokers and agents. These solutions also allow property developers, builders and agents to track the sales cycle of the client. It gives them a thorough insight into the crucial decision-making process of the purchaser. Accordingly, it generates detailed reports that allow them to have comprehensive transparency and accessibility. The clear benefit is that managers can use this information to refine the sales campaigns and improve conversion rates for future properties.

Some of the brightest features of a real estate management software solution are a data import facility, easy assignments and re-assignments, document storage as well as online lead nurturing. In fact, real estate agents can expect automated follow-up processes & activities and targeted marketing campaigns as well as non-stop communication with the potential customers. The primary motive of the software is to ease the bottleneck at administration, simplifying their needs, eliminate hassles and boosting the company reputation. It is also considered as a vital for businesses, looking for prominence in this field.

So, if you want to make higher conversion ratios, analyze the buying behavior of clients, increase sales and improve your return on investment, then embracing a solid real estate software solution is the most important solution for your business.