Issuu

WESTWORDS JUNE 2022

I AM WEST USA

HOLLY JONES TOUGH LOVE EVALUATION

WITH BROKER BOB EXCITING UPDATES

FROM KNOCK

LEAD MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

MADE SIMPLE

MAY MARKET STATS

AGENT IN ACTION CARLOS CICERO

JUNE CALENDAR

I AM

I AM HOLLY JONES I AM THOROUGH I AM PROACTIVE I AM A SOLVER I AM POSITIVE I AM KNOWLEDGEABLE I AM WEST USA

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING Holly was amazing through every step in the process. She took her time to understand our wants and needs. We have a crazy schedule and she was flexible and made herself available from early mornings to night, and even on weekends! She was patient and sat with us to go over the pros and cons of each home we saw. Not to mention she has resources to help with financing too. She walked us through every step of the way and let us know what to expect next. From browsing all the way through closing, Holly was phenomenal, personable, professional, and timely. We couldn’t have asked for anyone better. I highly recommend! Wow, where do I begin? Holly is one of the hardest working agents I have ever met or known. She spent countless hours looking for houses for us to buy, taking us on virtual tours even in the 113° days. She is personable, friendly, always happy, and willing to go

that extra mile. She answered my texts or phone calls even late on a Sunday night! OR extra early on a Saturday morning!! She went above and beyond to get us into the house of our dreams and dealt with the sellers when they were being unreasonable. She is definitely the definition of the movers and shakers of real estate and I would not hesitate to suggest her to sell or buy a home in AZ. Holly was very helpful and super responsive. She got in touch with me and set up a personalized search list for the areas I was looking to purchase homes in and would constantly call or keep in touch just to see if anything was on the market that I was interested in. She goes out of her way to give the best customer service. I really appreciate her time and I recommend her if you’re looking for a realtor who will treat you like a true VIP customer.

BROKER BLOG WITH BOB STEPHENS YOUR "TOUGH LOVE" EVALUATION BY YOU • Who are you? A Leader or a Follower?

• What is the cost of attracting new clients versus staying in touch with past clients seeking referrals • You personally need someone to list your home Describe that person precisely including how they etc.? Is a rental prospect a valuable client? are dressed. Is that person you? • Do you send clients a questionnaire regarding how satisfied they were with your services sent • Your marketing photo - is it a good one? Ask from West USA Corporate office? To be mailed others for opinions. back to West USA and then discussed with you? • The big picture - do you stand out in a field of Broker Bob can help with this and has developed 70,000 licensees? some questions for past clients. • Do you return phone calls every time and NOW? • Do you conduct the final walk through inspection • Your phone message - Does it go on forever? Will with your clients? you call back soon? When you answer the phone, • Do you attend all final paper signings with your do you identify yourself as West USA, this is Bob clients? and how may I help you? (Certainly not "HULLO”) • Do you present a written marketing plan for or is it Hullo? listings and then do it? • Are you running a business and treat it as such? • Do you use the CRITICAL DATE LIST for this plan? • Do you have a website and is it different or a copy Leave them a copy? of all others? • Do you have a "TAG LINE" for marketing? • Do you have a Newsletter posted on the website • Do you send a written thank you card to a cross that goes to people that request it be sent to sale agent? Even on tough transactions that were them? With lots of great links that are interesting and of value such as their trash collection site that not the best? Try to recruit them? has a schedule on it? Can you answer these questions and practice “TOUGH LOVE” on yourself and be brutally honest, • Do you believe that COMMUNICATION is your even if it hurts - and I suspect that it may? product? If you do not communicate, you will never have a listing or a buyer. • Can you listen or are you too busy telling prospects everything you know? • Do prospects care about your million dollar status? Do they want to know what you can do for them?

Then re-evaluate yourself and if need be, perhaps changing your style or way of doing business could be beneficial to you. ALL ANSWERS SHOULD BE IN WRITING AND COULD BE DISCUSSED WITH ME OR ANOTHER BROKER! NEXT: Develop a revised "marketing plans" and track it carefully!

QUESTIONS, CONTACT: Managing Broker, Bob Stephens | 602-942-4200

5 EXCITING UPDATES BY KNOCK Halfway through 2022, and it has already been an incredibly eventful year. And there’s always more excitement on the horizon. As of April 18th, we’re thrilled to be making a handful of changes to our home loan solutions, Knock Home Swap™ and Knock GO™ (Guaranteed Offer). #1 JUMBO LOANS Our list of products is expanding! We’re excited to add jumbo loans to our home loan solutions. With this new update, the maximum purchase loan amount we can offer is $3MM with a 25% down payment. The introduction of jumbo loans also has an effect on the maximum equity advance loan amount we can offer as part of the Home Swap. The ceiling on the six-month interest-free equity advance loan is now $650,000. #2 ELIGIBILITY – LIST SIDE LIMITS We’ve increased our list side limits! That means more people than ever are now eligible to buy before they sell with Knock Home Swap™! In all our U.S. markets, except Southern California and Seattle, the list side limit has increased to $1MM. In SoCal and Seattle, the limit increased to $2MM. These increases allow people in high-priced markets to take full advantage of Knock’s home loan solutions! #3 30-DAY CLOSING GUARANTEE

#4 APPRAISAL FEE REFUND In today’s housing market, we know just how important it is for your clients to lock in the best possible mortgage rate. Here at Knock, we’re doing everything we can to make that easier. We’ve removed our Appraisal Gap Protection from Knock GO™ (Guaranteed Offer) in favor of the Appraisal Fee Refund. The Appraisal Gap Protection was only benefitting a select few buyers, where this change will help all buyers score more competitive rates. With the new Appraisal Fee Refund, if your client’s appraisal comes in low, we’ll cover the cost of the appraisal fee up to $1,000!* Find more information on Knock GO™ and the Appraisal Fee Refund here. #5 WE’RE IN SEATTLE! Knock’s innovative home loan solutions are officially available in The Emerald City! We already hinted at it in the previous announcements, but expansion is worthy of its own bullet point. With the move into Seattle, Knock's winning solutions are now available in 75 markets across 15 states, helping Knock continue its mission to help put customers into their dream homes. AND WE’RE NOT DONE YET! As always, if you have any questions at all. We’re happy to answer them. Get in touch with us anytime!

In a bit of thrilling news, in 2022 so far nearly 90% of our hello@knock.com closings have been on time! It’s no secret. Closing delays (866) 996-1695. are stressful for everyone involved. That’s why we’re committed to giving your buyer and the seller peace of mind with a guaranteed closing timeline. Or we’ll make it right. Now, if a closing is delayed*, we’ll issue a $1,250 credit to both the buyer and seller at closing.

LEAD MANAGEMENT

SOFTWARE MADE SIMPLE BY WISE AGENT

Leads. Without them, where would your real estate business be? Growing and thriving as an agent or office depends on capturing and following through on those leads. Adding simple yet powerful real estate lead management software to your toolset is an awesome way to move those leads through the pipeline.

For instance, let’s say you’re running an ad that appeals to potential buyers. If someone converts to a lead via that ad, you can have our system automatically categorize them as buyers and have it send out follow-ups accordingly.

Wise Agent gives you a choice of automatically sending CMA reports quarterly, semi-annually, or annually to anyone in your database. Set it up As more real estate agents discover the awesome once and keep your clients informed of real estate possibilities of using lead management software, property values in their current neighborhood or more choices in the real estate space continue to one they are interested in moving to. pop up. However, many of them lack some of the With minimal work from you, you can keep in touch with your important leads in an incredibly essential choices that we’ve built into our timely manner. In today’s fast-paced, connected real estate CRM. world, it’s so important to be there in front of LEAD MANAGEMENT FEATURES MADE SIMPLE leads when and where you need to be. With Wise Agent’s lead management features, it’s In fact, to keep in touch with those leads, Wise Agent incredibly easy to set up your lead management system in exactly the ways that work for you. It’s allows you to send texts, videos, and/or perfectly completely customizable, you don’t have to try to personalized emails via our real estate CRM. fit into the categories that might work for another To see more about how our lead automation software works, read more about it or watch this company or agent, but don’t work for you. quick video: youtu.be/-CiEMetFrw0 For instance, when someone is added to your CRM automatically via capture form, or other lead source, you can instantly follow up via email and text based on the source of the lead. This allows you to tailor your lead automation software to the specifications that work for you, that will help you foster the most leads and close the most deals.

Wish you could easily see your new leads? We’ve made sure recent leads are easy to find by placing them right on your home screen when you log in to Wise Agent. Never miss a new lead again. Ready to use a real estate CRM that’ll make your life easier instead of more complicated? Start your free trial of Wise Agent now!

TODD MENARD’S REAL ESTATE MARKET STATS MAY 2022

Carlos Cicero out of the Chandler office is this month’s Agent in Action. Carlos is President and Co-founder of Be Kind Foundation which is a 501.C(3) Non-Profit Foundation which is focused on raising funds to help local charities around the valley.

CARLOS CICERO If you would like to nominate an agent that is doing great things in the community or making a difference, please fill out the nomination form on the Mywestusa.com website under the downloads tab and the Cares button.

Be Kind Foundation is composed of REALTORS®, Real Estate Partners and those who want to help their community. Be Kind Foundation’s vision is to help change someone's life through smaller local charities within the state of Arizona. According to Carlos, “I have been involved in supporting our communities since I became a REALTOR® in 2010. Be Kind Foundation evolved from an outreach committee doing small community projects to what we are today as a Foundation. We saw an even larger opportunity to expand our outreach support to other charities as a true Non-Profit organization. The opportunity to contribute on a larger scale and help local charities with their initiatives.” Aside from doing small monthly fundraisers, Be Kind Foundation have two major events a year: A Charity Golf Tournament in the spring and a Fall Concert in October which benefits Local Cancer Charities in the Valley. When asked what makes Be Kind Foundation a success? Carlos added “I think the foundation has been successful because of its members, partners and volunteers who have given up a lot of their spare time for such worthy causes. Sometimes, one person alone cannot change the life of someone else but if you approach it as a team, you are able to accomplish a lot more. There is strength in numbers.” Thank you, Carlos, for everything you do for our communities.

WHY YOUR CLIENTS NEED KNOCK HOME SWAP

• The ability to buy the home they want before selling the house they have, and skip living through showings & repairs. • Win their dream home in a bidding war without paying more. • Sell for top dollar with up to $25k for repairs and our expert listing prep team. Knock lends your clients money to buy their dream home instantly with an offer that competes with cash.

KNOCK GO

• The ability to make an offer as competitive as cash, so your client can win they home they want FAST. • Secure protection against low appraisals ans a guaranteed closing date. • $0 extra fees. Knock gives your clients the power and certainty of an offer that competes with cash so they can win against other buyers.

YOUR CLIENTS CAN EXPERIENCE THE PERKS OF MAKING A CASH OFFER WITHOUT BREAKING THE BANK

GET KNOCK CERTIFIED: www.knock.com/certified/NWZP

M O N DAY

T U E S DAY

W E D N E S DAY

01 9:00am - 12:00pm / Zoom FREE REMOTE CE CLASS The NAR Code & the AZ Law (3Hrs Legal Issues) 9:30am - 11:00am @ Chandler Office Home Partners of America Lease Purchase Program 11:00am - 12:00pm @ Chandler Office Team Leaders Monthly Mastermind 1:00pm - 2:00pm / Zoom w/ Keith Flynn Instagram - What Should Real Estate Agents Post?

9:00am - 10:00am / Webinar West USA Weekly Webinar

2:00pm - 2:30pm / Webinar Don’t Do Dat w/Broker Bob Stephens

9:00am - 10:00am / Webinar West USA Weekly Webinar

9:00am - 4:00pm / Zoom ProStart Training Session 1 - Day 1 of 3 2:00pm - 2:30pm / Webinar Don’t Do Dat w/Broker Bob Stephens

9:00am - 10:00am / Webinar West USA Weekly Webinar

9:00am - 4:00pm / Zoom ProStart Training Session 2 - Day 1 of 4 2:00pm - 2:30pm / Webinar Don’t Do Dat w/Broker Bob Stephens

27 9:00am - 10:00am / Webinar West USA Weekly Webinar 2:00pm - 2:30pm / Webinar Don’t Do Dat w/Broker Bob Stephens

07 9:00am - 11:00am / Webinar Take Flight Series 9:00am - 3:00pm @ NPhx Office REACT - Day 1 of 3 1:00pm - 2:00pm / Zoom iFound Agent - Learn Homeowner Drip Campaigns, Instant & Sold Listing Campaigns and more! 3:30pm - 4:30pm @ Surprise Office Ready , Plan, Action 5:00pm - 6:30pm @ Tukee’s Tuesday at Tukee’s

08 9:00am - 10:00am @ Chandler Office Coffee, Conversation, & Collaboration 9:00am - 12:00pm / Zoom FREE REMOTE CE CLASS Duties to Clients & Customers (3Hrs Commissioner Standards) 9:00am - 3:00pm @ NPhx Office REACT - Day 2 of 3 10:00am - 11:00am @ Kierland Office Kierland Office Meeting 1:00pm - 2:00pm / Zoom w/ Keith Flynn How to Edit Videos with Canva

14 9:00am - 11:00am / Webinar Take Flight Series 9:00am - 12:00pm @ Mesa Office FREE LIVE CE CLASS - Duties to Clients & Customers (3Hrs Commissioner Standards) 9:00am - 4:00pm / Zoom ProStart Training Session 1 - Day 2 of 3 10:00am - 11:00am @ Palm Valley CC Goodyear Office Meeting 10:30am - 11:30am @ Arrowhead Office Divvy - Rent to Own 1:00pm - 2:00pm / Zoom iFound Agent - Learn Homeowner Drip Campaigns, Instant & Sold Listing Campaigns and more! 1:00pm - 2:00pm @ Chandler Office Understanding Agency Law (3Hrs Agency Law) 3:30pm - 4:30pm @ Surprise Office Ready, Plan, Action

21 9:00am - 11:00am / Webinar Take Flight Series 9:00am - 12:00pm @ NPhx Office FREE LIVE CE CLASS - General Finance for REALTORS® (3Hrs Gen. Credit) 9:00am - 4:00pm / Zoom ProStart Training Session 2 - Day 2 of 4 10:00am - 11:00am @ Goodyear Office Goodyear Essential Learning 1:00pm - 2:00pm / Zoom iFound Agent - Learn Homeowner Drip Campaigns, Instant & Sold Listing Campaigns and more! 3:30pm - 4:30pm @ Surprise Office Ready, Plan, Action

28 9:00am - 11:00am / Webinar Take Flight Series 10:00am - 11:00am @ Surprise Office Surprise Office Meeting 1:00pm - 2:00pm / Zoom iFound Agent - Learn Homeowner Drip Campaigns, Instant & Sold Listing Campaigns and more! 3:30pm - 4:30pm @ Surprise Office Ready, Plan, Action

15 9:00am - 12:00pm / Zoom FREE REMOTE CE CLASS Master the AAR Listing Contracts (3Hrs Contract Law) 9:00am - 4:00pm / Zoom ProStart Training Session 1 - Day 3 of 3 10:00am - 11:30am @ Chandler Office Chandler Office Meeting 1:00pm - 2:00pm / Zoom w/ Keith Flynn Facebook Creator Studio: What Marketers Need to Know 4:30pm - 6:30pm Surprise Happy Hour

9:00am - 12:00pm / Zoom FREE REMOTE CE CLASS Agency & Industry Related Issues (3Hrs Agency Law)

9:00am - 4:00pm / Zoom ProStart Training Session 2 - Day 3 of 4 1:00pm - 2:00pm / Zoom w/Keith Flynn Instagram Reels Strategies for Real Estate Pros

9:00am - 12:00pm / Zoom FREE REMOTE CE CLASS High Fiduciary Representation (3Hrs Fair Housing)

JUNE 2022

T H U R S DAY

F R I DAY

10:00am - 11:30am @ Arrowhead Bullpen Arrowhead Office Meeting 10:30am - 12:00pm @ NPhx Office West USA Agent Orientation

9:00am - 3:00pm @ NPhx Office REACT - Day 3 of 3

9:00am - 12:00pm @ Kierland Office Understanding New Construction (3Hrs Disclosure) 10:30am - 11:30am @ Ahwatukee Office Ahwatukee Office Meeting 4:30pm - 6:30pm @ Headquarters Arrowhead Happy Hour

10:00am - 11:00am @ Surprise Office Coffee with Justin 10:30am - 11:30am @ Ahwatukee Office Divvy - Rent to Own Program / Ahwatukee Office Meeting 1:00pm - 2:00pm @ Chandler Office Divvy - Rent to Own Program Lunch & Learn

9:00am - 4:00pm / Zoom ProStart Training Session 2 - Day 4 of 4 11:00am - 12:00pm @ Chandler Office Successfully Selling HUD Homes 1:00pm - 2:30pm @ Chandler Office West USA Cares POP-BY’s

30 10:00am - 11:00am / Zoom Broker Roundtable w/ Dean Becker 10:00am - 11:00am @ NPhx Office North Phoenix Office Meeting 10:00am - 11:00am @ Kierland Office LIVE CE CLASS FHA & VA Loans (3Hrs Legal Issues)