Las Vegas Real Estate Career

Now you can subscribe to Mark Stark’s weekly conference call via a Podcast. You can select from a variety of podcatchers - the most popular is iTunes. Once you subscribe (by adding it to your iTunes, for example), all the new audios will be automatically downloaded when available and loaded on your iPod everytime you connect to iTunes. You can (re)listen to Mark’s conference call at your convenience. Just click on the Subscribe to the Podcast feed and select your favorite podcatcher.

Prudential’s exclusive Online Seller Advantage (OSA) was built to distinguish your listings from competing properties and maximize exposure to qualified buyers. This state-of-the-art art tool equips you with proof that Prudential Real Estate is leading the way for consumers who use the web to find or sell a home.  
 
OSA distinguishes you from competitors in three ways . . .

Wins Listings - Create a Listing Presentation Report that shows the benefits of listing with an OSA subscriber. The report emphasizes our exclusive relationship with Yahoo! Real Estate. It presents current online buyer activity in your listing prospect’s local area.

Maintains Listings and Gains Customer Loyalty - Your sellers receive email alerts on their property - everyday until it sells! Besides this area update, email alerts notify your sellers (1) the number of times their property returned in search results, (2) their home’s property details were viewed, and (3) the times their property was added to a prospective buyer’s portfolio.

Markets Listings and Creates Exciting Selling Opportunities - Display a Yahoo! sign rider with an exclusive Web ID on your seller’s Prudential Real Estate yard sign. When sellers’ enter that number in Yahoo! search, the Web ID sends those prospective buyers the property details for your listings online. 

Find out how you can start using this marketing tool in your real estate business by calling 702-320-4397 to schdule a confidential interview.

Prudential Americana is pleased to announce we now offer an online Nevada Real Estate Exam prep and practice test as a complimentary service.

The online module offers 12 different exam sets to assist you in preparing for your licensing exam. During this program, you will be able to select from a series of study modes along with timed simulations of the examination.

Just give us a call at 702-320-4397 or complete this contact form requesting your login instructions.   

Jerry Pujals of ZhoneCoaching will be presenting a free seminar “The Winning Mindset and Masterful Negotiations” 

Thursday, May 8^th, 2008 12:00 to 1:30 pm
Equity Title Training Facility — 4035 S. Tenaya Way

• Masterful negotiators are masterful communicators.
• Avoid the number one mistake your competition is making and get back to the basics of selling.
• There are three steps to getting your client to say, yes!
• Run your business like a business and challenge yourself like never before.
• Discover effective strategies for promoting your business.
• Overcome the barriers that hold you back, and embrace a limitless future. Your business will be unstoppable!

Seating is limited to the first 50 participants.  RSVP to reserve your seat today - call 702.318.4043 or email ambers@americanagrp.com
 

ATTENTION ALL AGENTS!!  Are Short Sales taking all your time with No Return?

Sort Sale Seminar…Space is Limited
April 24th - 3:00 pm - Red Rock Casino

Educate yourself. We can help!

BRING YOUR CLIENTS Cost: FREE but you must RSVP to attend!
Please RSVP to Candace Dochtermann at 702-796-7777 x5623 or via email @ candaced@americangrp.com

Sponsored by Prudential Americana Group, Countrywide Home Loans and Equity Title of Nevada.

Prudential Americana launched it’s newest division recently to facilitate the smooth handling of Short Sales.  If you are a licensed real estate agent and want to earn a 25% referral fee, let our experienced agents and staff handle your short sale listing. 

Do You:

• Come across properties where the homeowner owes more than the property can be sold for, especially after real estate commissions and closing costs?
• Know homeowner’s that overprice their property simply to attempt to break even on the sale?
• Try to manage short sales to closing, but find them to be too time consuming?
• Walk away from listing opportunities due to them being a short sale?

Let Us:

• Help you earn more commission dollars and Save you valuable time and money!
• Submit the offer, the financial information, and other supporting documents to the homeowner’s mortgage servicer.
• Use our established contacts to negotiate on the clients’ behalf with banks and investors to consummate a sale and closing.
• Coordinate with title companies, mortgage companies, etc. to ensure a smooth transaction.

Just call our Short Sale Division at 702.318.4042 or via email: shortsales@americanagrp.com.

Forrest Barbee, our Corporate Broker, recently posted some great information and a downloadable investment analysis tool on his blog:  Real Estate as an Investment: Price Reduction Tools.

Forrest created a spreadsheet that contains two Investment Calculators.  The first let’s you put in the original purchase date, purchase price, expected sale date . . . and then calculated an anticipated sale price base on a 6% annual return.  The second one asks for original purchase date, anticipated sale date, original purchase price, and expected sale price.  In turn it calculates the actual annual return as if this property had been an investment.

The Nevada Real Estate Division decided to replace continuing education with a post-licensing requirement effective January 1, 2006.  Post Licensing courses were intended to complement Pre-licensing classes and provide a foundation for practicing real estate that is not present in pre-licensing classes. 

Most new real estate students enter pre-licensing courses “not knowing what they don’t know”.  In short they are unconsciously incompetent!  Pre-licensing courses paint a broad brush mosaic of real estate replete with all the terminology and concepts that are required to pass the national and Nevada real estate exams.  By doing so, students become aware of the many topics and issues that are relevant in their pursuit of real estate.  However, this awareness creates consciousness, but does not begin to develop competencies. This is where post-licensing classes fit in; they begin to develop the practical knowledge and experience requisite to becoming a successful licensee in the practice of real estate.

The Nevada Administrative Code NAC 645.4442 mandates of minimum of thirty (30) hours of classes covering fifteen areas of content.  This is a good start, but there are two problems or concerns that have arisen since its inception.  First, the NAC code only requires a minimum of three (3) hours of contracts related classes.  Consequently, Americana Group developed a 42-hour post licensing course in order to retain 15 hours of contracts related material.  Contracts are too complex and the numbers of required forms are too plentiful to be able to be taught in a mere 3 hours.

Secondly, most post-licensing offerings in the Greater Las Vegas Area have simply replaced the previous 30 hours of continuing education with 30 hours of post-licensing.  That is, a number of standalone course offerings are available that permit licensees to piece-meal content together without putting any of it into an overall context.  The Americana Group post licensing course is a fully integrated set of modules where many of the classes build upon previous classes.  There is a good sense of continuity that reinforces the learning process.  The vast majority of licensees that complete the Americana post licensing course leave the course with a much greater confidence in their ability to actually work with a buyer or seller.  They have already demonstrated their ability to complete a residential purchase agreement as well as the buyer’s and seller’s net sheets . . . in order to graduate from the program.

The structure and format of the Americana post licensing course is so powerful that we have even had seasoned agents sit through the course for no credit.  Why?  Because the ones who have were able to take their existing career results to new levels.  This is no mystery!  Many licensees that entered into real estate from 2004 through 2006 never really had to learn the basics of selling or closing transactions.  Rather the hot Las Vegas market carried them despite their lack of skills.  Many of these agents are currently struggling and the Americana post licensing course is one tool to help them.  Americana has many other exciting tools that will help any sales professional at any point in their career.

The post-licensing course is open to any Nevada licensee and the cost is $199.  The course is free to licensees affiliated with Prudential Americana Group.  To enroll in our post-licensing course, contact Kristy Shay at 702-796-7777.  Visit our training center to see the current schedule for post-licensing and all class offerings.

Here are some valuable resources and websites to bookmark for the latest information concerning Las Vegas and the state of Nevada economy, work force, business, housing market, tourism, etc.

 The Center for Business and Economic Research - University of Nevada, Las Vegas
http://cber.unlv.edu/snecon.html
You can obtain a myriad of data, charts, graphs and commentary on the latest Nevada business conditions, Clark County economic data, Las Vegas housing market conditions, population data, information on tourism, economic outlook (mid-year and annual)

Nevada Economy in Brief - is a monthly publication from the State of Nevada, Department of Employmnet, Training & Rehabilitation.  These publications are available for download at: http://www.nevadaworkforce.com/ along with a wealth of information on job growth, unemployment statistics and the Nevada economy.

For demographic, population and some housing information:
http://www.co.clark.nv.us/comprehensive_planning/05/Demographics.htm

Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce  (http://www.lvchamber.com/home.html) - great for business-building and networking; relocation information and more.

Official Las Vegas Tourism site - for all things Las Vegas - from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
http://www.visitlasvegas.com/vegas/index.jsp

The process for complaints or ethics violations through Greater Las Vegas Assoication of Realtors® (GLVAR):

• Either a member of the public or another Realtor® may file an ethics complaint.
• The complaint first goes to the Grievance Committee.
• If the Grievance Committee feels the complaint has merit, the case will then go forward to the Professional Standards Committee for a formal hearing.
• In Professional Standards, the case is handled as if in a courtroom.

1. Article 1 - Protect and promote your client; treat all parties honestly.

a) Earnest Money

• Not getting any and signing that you did
• Giving check back to buyer who changes his mind before you open escrow and not informing other agent
• Checking earnest money deposit under the default paragraph on the Residential Purchase Agreement (RPA) if you have no earnest deposit
• Letting buyer move in early without making earnest deposit hard in case the deal goes south

b) Representing both sides in a relationship - Be very careful to be equally honest with all parties

c) Representing yourself or a close friend

2. Article 9 - Put it in writing!

• Not filling in all blanks
• All parties must have copies of everything
• All amendments and documents must have signatures
• Dates and time are part of a complete document
• “Per Lender” - not appropriate for loan information
• Problems with documents particularly on lease options - be sure language is very clear
• Take notes on all contacts, phone calls and documents given with your client - be sure they are part of your file

3. Article 2 - Avoid misrepresentation, exaggeration and concealment

• Be truthful
• Do not misrepresent the amount of the earnest deposit
• Keep buyers informed of zoning changes
• Do not list as residential when zoning is being changed to commercial
• Do not lease homes that are about to be foreclosed
• If you know of anything adverse, you need to disclose

4. Article 12 - Be truthful in advertising

• Cannot use a URL Domain name that would present less than a true picture. Ex: “RockbottompricesinLV.com”
• Must be entitled to use Realtor® designations and must be current in dues to those organizations
• Cannot be misleading
• Must state that you are a Realtor®
• Must put Realtor® on business cards
• Must use name on your business card that is on your real estate license. Nicknames may be put in parenthesis
• Putting wrong photos in MLS
• Cannot advertise a home that you have not listed

5. Article 16 - Take no action inconsistent with another Realtor’s® exclusive relationship

• Must ask if a person is already represented with a brokerage agreement
• Cannot list a property before it is expired or unconditionally withdrawn
• May not change broker compensation via a RPA, addendum or counter
• If in a short sale situation, if compensation is changed by the bank, you must specifically state how commission is to be split

Any complaints filed and/or the results of any hearing by the Association are confidential. They are not a matter of public record.