With the release of the Apple iPad tablet, I didn’t have much nice to say other than “it’s a tablet.” Some have speed read and missed that we have been talking about tablet computing as the next step for quite a while and we have said repeatedly that in the third generation, we believe the iPad will be a game changer, but in its current state (which has no flash, and no multi-tasking, so you can’t have your email open and use a web browser at the same time), it is absolutely useless outside of being a great e-reader.

So what else is out there?

There are a few technologies on the horizon that look like they could be real competitors to the Apple iPad. They don’t do the exact same thing and they’re not built to be the exact same tool, but they will likely cut into iPad’s market share when they hit shelves.

What do you think of these three tools, the iPad, the Courier and the Mini5? Let us know in comments what you think about them and how they add to the evolution of the laptop or the cell phone sectors.

Slate.com today released its annual Slate 60 list outlining the top 60 largest philanthropic donations in America in 2009 and compared to previous years, donations are (as everyone would suspect) down considerably and the top donor isn’t Oprah or Bill Gates.

We decided to analyze the list this year to see how generous leaders in the real estate sector despite the crumbling industry and was surprised to see that several people linked to the real estate industry made the list with their philanthropic efforts. Four made the list this year, two of whom gave more money than Oprah! Below is the brief about them, but we encourage you to read their full bios and the extent of their donations.

Number 7: Eli and Edythe L. Broad- Eli was the founding chairman of KB Homes and with his wife, they founded the Broad Foundations which support art, civic programs, education and medical research. They made the list this year by pledging $105.2 million to their foundations.

Number 8: J. Ronald and Frances Terwilliger- Ronald is the chairman of Trammell Crow Residential and they pledged $100 million to Habitat for Humanity.

Number 36: Bernard and Anne Spitzer- Bernard founded real estate development and management company, Spitzer Engineering and pledged $25 million to his alma mater, City College of New York to benefit its school of architecture for scholarships, fellowships and faculty research.

Number 43: M.A. Douglas- founded real estate development company, Income Property Services, left $21 million to the University of California at Irvine Medical Center in his will (he passed in 2008). He was never a patient there but passed it on the way to work every day and the only stipulation was that the money benefit people in Orange County, CA, where most of his business was centered.

Do you think that there should be more real estate leaders on the list or do you think four is quite a few, given the terrible economy? Is there anyone you’re surprised is not on the list?

Social news sites haven’t been quite as in the spotlight since Twitter and Facebook seemed to have sucked up more of our time and attention, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a valuable resource for both sharing your information and learning about a topic.

Easily the most popular social news site is Digg, which was partially propelled to success thanks to the personality of its founder, Kevin Rose. Figures from 2008, according to ReadWriteWeb, showed Digg receiving 230 million page views a month, and I’ll go ahead and assume that traffic is still high.

How Digg is social:

Digg, essentially, is a social news site where users rate, or “digg”, stories they find interesting. The site tends to lean toward tech, weird, or ponderous news, and away from traditional news stories. The digg.com portal is very social indeed — it reminds you of all the stories your friends would probably link, tweet or email you because the top stories are ranked by how many times they’ve been dugg.

If you’re trying to promote your own content, Digg makes it easy by allowing you to add simple buttons to your stories, or by creating your own account and adding articles yourself. While it is easy to use, it’s important to monitor articles and make sure they don’t get showed down to the bottom of the pile; there’s a lot of new content coming in all the time.

If you want to use Digg for browsing, they even have handy extensions for Firefox and Chrome that allow you to automatically digg stories you are reading, see the digg count for articles while you’re on the page, and see what articles your friends Digg. In fact, since Digg is one form of a social network, being social is key. If you’re going to to use Digg for promotion, try not to only digg stories from your blog or web site. Just like if someone were just blasting Facebook and Twitter with their own links and not interacting, only digging your own stuff looks pretty spammy.

And while Digg seems to have a wide variety of topics, things seem to thrive better if they are of the more ‘geeky’/tech-based/weird sort, not traditional fare. So if you’re that category, Digg may be the place for you.

“What ever is happening to YOU now, YOU either created it, YOU allow it or YOU promote it.” ~Unknown

Reread that.  It’s stark truth and reality for 97% of what is going on with our real estate careers.  Success and challenges alike.

Setting things right is simple…take personal responsibility and embrace The Fix It or Fire It Method.

Fix It or Fire It

Current Listing Inventory Not Selling?  Fix It or Fire It?

1. Fix how the property shows compared to the competition.  Sellers won’t help themselves?  Fire them.
2. Adjust the price to a competitive level.  Sellers won’t help themselves? Fire them.
3. ReEvalute your marketing and promotional competitiveness.   If you are unwilling or unable to compete and deliver as promised, do yourself and you seller(s) a favor – release them and Fire Yourself.

Current Buyer Prospects Not Buying?  Fix It or Fire It?

1. Re-Qualify prospects for urgency, motivation and ability.  If buyer prospects can’t or don’t need to buy, Fire Them (firmly but gently) as current buyer prospects, but stay close and earn referral recommendations.
2. Re-examine what you think your prospects are looking for, Fix It and get back on track.  If you can’t draw it out of them or you aren’t listening, Fire Yourself.
3. If you believe your prospects are qualified, you understand what they want, you’ve  shown it to them and they still aren’t buying, uncover the barrier/resistence/reluctance/fear/obstacle/etc.  If you can’t figure it out and Fix It, Fire Yourself or refer them to a trusted collegue who beams a different personality.

Current Prospecting Systems Attract Flies, Felons and Phony-Balonies or The Deafening Sound Of Crickets?  Fix It or Fire It?

1. Examine all print and direct mail advertising.  Is it paying for itself, plus a profit?  How much have you wasted spent?  Where are you advertising.  How often?  Who’s your target?  What’s your message?  How many closed transactions has it generated in the last 6 months? If it’s not profitable, Fix Something about it (the message, the medium, the frequency, the quality, etc.) and reevaluate in 30 days or Fire It.  Seriously, if it’s not profitable, STOP.

Is Your Leader Really A Loser?  Fix It or Fire It?

1. Assuming your committed, dedicated and motivated, does your broker Leader provide you with the intellectual, emotional, technological, strategic support necessary to thrive?  If not, talk to them about meeting your needs, if they are unwilling to adapt, Fire Them.
2. If you feel you’re working with a bona-fide Leader, but your success is sketchy, examine your commitment, motivation, strategy and execution.  If you’re unwilling to adapt, do your broker leader, yourself and occasional victims clients a favor, Fire Yourself.

Do Your Vendors Make You Look Magnificent and Send You Referrals?

1. Recommending competent lenders, title companies, painters, plumbers, baby sitters, roofers, etc., is what our clients expect us to do.  If the vendors we recommend aren’t reliable, courteous, professional and a source of referral recommendations, talk to them about your service requirements and your expectation for reciprocal referral recommendations.  If they are unwilling or unable to perform, bang-bang.  Next.

Are You Hugging It Out With Friends or Slugging It Out With Frienemies?  Fix It or Fire It?

1. To have friends, you must be a friend.  If you are and they aren’t, talk to them and fix your relationship.  If they are unwilling to be a friend, Fire Them.
2. If your friends are Debbie Downers, gossips, back stabbers or two faced, Fire Them.
3. Hang and hug it out with positive, supportive, bright people.  Like people who read AgentGenius:-)

Our Shiny Future

Like I said, if we look around, evidence is everywhere.  If we always do what we’ve always done, we’ll get less and less. I’ve listed six areas where immediate action will yield semi-immediate results.  Listings will sell faster, clients will be happier, marketing dollars will work harder, we’ll attract qualified prospects, the people we bless with business will bless us, we’ll enjoy the benefits of competent leadership and the warmth of true blue friends will make our lives richer.

I guess the obvious question is, “When should we start?”

Photo Credit

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Cheers and thanks for reading.

PS.  If you have a Fix It or Fire It idea, it’d be super cool if you’d share it in the comments.  If you know anyone who would benefit from this memo, please forward.

Thanks:-)

There has been a lot of information in the news lately about strategic default. Strategic default is the decision of a borrower to stop making payments (to default) on a debt despite having the financial ability to continue making those payments. Whatever your opinion might be about participating in a strategic default, it would be difficult to deny that it’s pretty darn stinky to see your property value decline significantly—especially if you have made a large down payment!

Many individuals question whether strategic default is ethical. Certainly it’s a lot more socially acceptable now than ever before.

A question that I am commonly asked is whether an individual who has financial means can sell his or her home in a short sale. It’s a great question, and the decision about whether to approve a short sale is solely determined by the seller’s lien holders. So, one mortgage lender may approve a short sale without a hardship, and another lender may not. It all depends upon the lender’s guidelines.

That being said, most lien holders request a hardship letter as part of the short sale package.

The hardship letter is a letter written by the seller(s) that outlines their hardship. It does not have to be long, but it does need to point out what has changed in the seller’s situation since the purchase of the property.

Here is an example of a hardship (totally fictitious):

I am a Realtor®. When I purchased my home in 2005, I had closed 42 transactions that year and my total income was over $400,000. This year I have closed only six transactions, which is why I cannot afford to keep my home any longer.

The harsh reality of a seller’s situation can be extremely tragic, and this is a perfect example how to convey information in the body of the hardship letter.

Here are some examples of common hardships: job loss, loan adjustment, illness, death, divorce, military deployment, incarceration, and job transfer.

Typically if the seller (borrower) has experienced one of the hardships listed above and can document that hardship, then the bank will have no trouble approving the short sale.

The topic of strategic default vs. harsh reality in our current economic climate is a tough one. When working short sales, it is important to always pre-qualify your sellers. After all, you want to get the job done and see a successful settlement, don’t you? And . . . you certainly do not want to be in the same position as the writer of the hardship letter shown above!

Where do you spend most of your day as a real estate professional?

With the rise of virtual offices, many people are leaving the desk life, but as any pendulum swings, we’re seeing people that have learned they don’t function effectively at their home office due to distractions, so many are going back to their brokers’ office for various reasons.

Take the quick poll below telling us where you spend most of your work day and feel free to comment as to what works best for you and why!

In the meantime, show us in pictures where you work by posting your best shots in the AG Flickr Group where we’ll be pulling pictures from to feature on AG. We’re looking for your favorite work spot, the view from your office, your favorite desk organizer or anything interesting in your work space.

I know we’re all big huge fans of the MLS maps from the local Board of Realtors, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a close up of your niche area? Wouldn’t you love to have a map on your wall that was zoomed in enough that you could actually push pin your listings into it? Call me old school, but I love the tangibility of maps and I don’t think they should cost a fortune of be bought at the gas station and feature creases.

In steps Google Map Buddy which is software that you un-zip and run in Windows, allowing you to get a sattelite view of your custom area or a street map view. Some say the software is a little shaky, but it’s better than the vacation map taped to the wall. I’m considering getting our local area then going to Office Max to have them print up a poster sized map which is pretty inexpensive.

According to Lifehacker, “When you un-zip and run Google Map Buddy, it asks you to choose your Google Map nationality, then opens a browser to let you search out the location you’re looking at. Once you get there, hit “Select area,” then draw a rectangle around the area you want to capture. After fine-tuning the zoom level and hitting “Create Map Image,” Map Buddy goes to work grabbing, tile by tile, your area’s map. It generates a generally high-resolution PNG of your area, and provides the individual map tiles to keep and arrange yourself into a larger grid, if you’d like.”

You’ll probably see title companies using tools like this in the coming year rather than paying the big bucks for the aerial photography of the area (trust me, it’s not cheap), or you’ll use them yourself to send branded materials to local companies (roll up a branded printout with a star on the local restaurant’s location and hand deliver to them, for example). What’s a simple way you might use custom wall map technologies in your business?